


Children of the Stars

by ThatWildWolf



Category: Mass Effect (Video Games), Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Absolutely Kickass Siblings, Alien/Human Relationships, Asexual main character, Basically, Because it gets serious sometimes and I needed to lighten up the mood, Bigotry & Prejudice, Brother-Sister Relationships, Canon Bisexual Character, Canon Rewrite, Canon-Typical Violence, Canonical Character Death, Comic Relief, Everyone Has Issues, Family Feels, Found Family, Friendship/Love, Gen, I AM STILL GONNA WRITE THIS, Male-Female Friendship, Mass Effect 1, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Nihlus Kryik Lives, Overcoming prejudice, Paragon Shepard (Mass Effect), Psychological issues, Racism, SCREW YOU HATERS, Self Confidence Issues, Shepard Twins (Mass Effect), Spacer (Mass Effect), Team as Family, Trust Issues, YOU CAN'T HURT ME WITH YOUR MEAN COMMENTS
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-14
Updated: 2021-01-06
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:35:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 28,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24722404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatWildWolf/pseuds/ThatWildWolf
Summary: David and Cassidy Shepard were given the opportunity to join the most prestigious special force in the galaxy - the Spectres—an honor no human had received before. However, on the mission that is supposed to be their evaluation, things go awry. Now, the fate of the galaxy rests in their hands.A rewrite of the trilogy accommodating for the Shepard Twins trope. (ME1 for now)
Comments: 20
Kudos: 12





	1. Paradise Lost

"So, what do you think?"

Commander Shepard blinked, the turian's voice bringing her from the twisted maze of her thoughts back to the crew deck of the SSV _Normandy_.

"I... don't know," she said honestly. "It's a lot to process."

"Of course." Nihlus Kryik nodded his head, understanding of her hesitation. Shepard _had_ been wondering why a Council Spectre was on board for this supposedly routine assignment—now that she had her answer, she was more bewildered than ever. "Take your time."

"...I assume this is top-secret information," she said eventually.

"It is."

"Then why tell me?"

"Because, believe it or not, I value your input on this, Shepard. You're considered a hero among your people, is that right?"

"Some might say that," she admitted hesitantly. She had never liked people calling her a hero after she'd simply done what any good soldier would.

"Besides, you probably know him better than anyone. And I've never been one to turn down a second opinion, especially from someone better versed than me." Nihlus crossed his arms, leaning back to rest on the wall behind him. "Which brings us back to my original question: what do you think?"

Shepard shook her head slowly, looking down at her feet.

"It's my brother. Obviously, I'd be overjoyed to see him as a Spectre. I'd be overjoyed to see any human as a Spectre, regardless of my relation to them. God knows we've paid our dues." She hesitated, not sure how that last sentence came across to a turian. "But I can't assess if he's ready. That sounds more like a job for _you."_

"That doesn't help much."

"I'm sorry," Shepard said coldly. "I had no idea I was supposed to."

The turian sighed, resigned. "I'm not your enemy, Commander. I'm actually on your side here."

She nodded slowly, not fully convinced but also not so stupid as to argue further.

"So what's the assignment here?" She decided to just get to the point. The sooner, the better.

Nihlus held up a finger. "Not yet."

The door to the comm room opened automatically as someone approached it.

"David!" She smiled warmly at the sight of her brother. He'd changed a lot since she'd last seen him two years earlier, but there was still something comfortingly familiar about his appearance... Even though it didn't escape her notice that he'd lost some weight. More than was healthy.

She wanted nothing but to hug him, but this was a workplace. She settled for an eager handshake.

"Cassidy," he smiled back as he shook her hand. Looking to the turian with significantly less affection, "...Kryik."

"Ah, Commander Shepard." He sent a sideways glance at Cassidy, the other Commander Shepard in the room, but it didn't seem like there was any confusion. "You've made it here, good."

David raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised at the fairly ambiguous greeting. He'd always been more to the point, didn't like beating around the bush.

"Your sister and I were just... talking." The turian crossed his arms, leaning on the guardrail behind him.

"Really? What about?"

"Oh, various things. Politics, if you may."

Shepard didn't even _pretend_ he believed his sister would ever engage in political debate.

"Is that so?"

"Well. The workings and dangers of this galaxy—some pointers and warnings, maybe."

Cassidy Shepard had to sweep back some of her red hair to keep it from falling into her eyes as she moved her head.

"Humanity hasn't been out here long," she said. "He knows more than you and I combined."

David nodded; _that_ he could understand.

"Where's Captain Anderson?" He asked. "I was supposed to meet here with him, not you."

"He's coming," Nihlus assured him. "Don't worry."

As if on cue, the door once again opened, this time letting in—visibly more worn down than his younger namesake—David Anderson.

"I'm sorry I'm late," he said evenly. "I hope I didn't keep you waiting for long."

"Not at all, sir," Cassidy was quick to reply. "It gave Officer Kryik and I some time to discuss the situation."

Anderson nodded, pleased. "That's good. Then I suppose this is the moment when we let the man himself in on the truth."

David knit his eyebrows.

"Which is?"

"This isn't any run-of-the-mill operation."

"That much is clear," he accepted that information quickly. "Keeping the stealth systems on at all times, suddenly assigning us to a prototype ship, not to mention the Council Spectre I keep bumping into wherever I go." He shot Nihlus a look. "No offense."

"I'd like to add upon that," Cassidy said. "I know why Nihlus is here, but that still doesn't explain all the secrecy surrounding the mission. I would have thought our rank raised us above a need-to-know basis."

Captain Anderson took a deep breath.

"Both good questions. Nihlus—Shall _I_ answer or do you want to do it?"

"I think your words would mean more to them."

"Very well." Anderson put his hands behind his back, his gaze going between the twins until eventually resting upon Cassidy. "You were told we're going to Eden Prime for a shakedown run. The truth is, we're doing a covert pickup. The order came all the way up from the top—even I was kept in the dark until a few days ago."

"What are we picking up?" Cassidy asked.

"A research team from Eden Prime accidentally dug up a Prothean device—a beacon of some sort. Our unit was tasked with bringing it to the Citadel for study."

"That's not it. There's more," David said.

The other three silently exchanged glances.

"David—"

Nihlus interrupted Cassidy before she got the chance to start a thought.

"Please, Shepard. Let me." He cleared his throat. "I hope this doesn't come across the wrong way, coming from a turian, but... Here's the truth. Humans are a young species. You're still evolving, growing. Personally, I see a lot of potential in your people, but most people do not. You make a lot of noise for your station."

"Most aliens don't think humanity's earned even our _current_ position," Anderson explained. "And taking how long we've been pushing for a seat on the Council, well... Many have started to pay closer attention to Earth and its people."

"Exactly," Nihlus agreed. "And you've been put in the limelight, Commander."

"What is my role in all this, exactly?" Shepard furrowed his brows. "I'm a soldier, not a politician."

"David, a soldier is what they're _looking_ for," Cassidy said in a low voice. "They want to make you a Spectre."

Before the shell-shocked David had a chance to protest, Nihlus had already taken over.

"She's telling the truth. Actually, I put down your name for the application _personally_."

A turian advocating for a human to join a special force as elite as the Spectres was news surprising enough for both Shepards to be rendered speechless.

"...No one told me that," Cassidy said eventually.

"...No one told me _any_ of this," David noticed. "I still think you've got one up." He straightened his back, standing to attention. "I'd be honored, of course. I'll do my best."

"Save your best for the field," Nihlus raised a hand. "In our line of work, actions speak louder than words. Part of why you were chosen for this."

Shepard nodded, quick to pick up on the tone of the conversation. This wasn't the time for promises just yet.

Looking at his sister, he wondered if she'd been given the same offer. Probably not. That wasn't something she would have refused. But she _had_ known about it before him, which for some reason made him feel slightly more confident.

If he had Cassidy Shepard watching his back, any mission was immediately made much easier.

After all, she was an excellent shot.

He smiled. "Cassidy—"

_"Captain, we've got a problem."_

The pilot's voice sounded from the intercom so abruptly and with such urgency that everyone in the room stopped dead in their tracks.

"What is it, Joker?" Anderson immediately slipped into soldier mode at the first sign of trouble—and he wasn't the only one. Nihlus tensed, no longer leaning back casually. The Shepard siblings exchanged glances, both of them assuming a more defensive stance.

_"Eden Prime is cut off. There's no working commlinks to anywhere on the entire planet. And when you try to establish a connection, the system shows you... this."_

The large screen on the wall lit up, playing a low-quality video recorded by some soldier's armor's combat VI. The image was shaking and blurred, but it was clear the colony was under attack.

Bullets were flying in the air and fire was devouring the once-lush trees in the background.

 _"Get down!"_ One of the soldiers pushed the other into the ground.

The image was almost replaced by static after the impact.

_"Oh, my God... Look at the sky."_

The camera turned towards the blood-red sky, an electric discharge crashing across the frame like a lightning bolt as for a brief moment, a giant hulking shadow in the sky taking almost the entire frame. There was something almost organic in the movement of its limbs, but that _thing_ was no living organism. It was the incarnation of fear.

_"God have mercy... What is that thing?!"_

_"Go! Go!"_

The video cut off along with the sound of an explosion.

 _"That's all she wrote,"_ Joker said. _"It replays afterward."_

"Joker, rewind that and stop at 45 seconds," Anderson ordered quickly.

The image of that terrifying alien form in the burning sky reappeared on the screen, tainted by the video's poor recording quality and yet still able to strike some unexplainable fear into their hearts.

Cassidy swallowed, her throat feeling tight all of a sudden.

David narrowed his eyebrows, wanting to look away and yet unable to do so.

Nihlus clicked his mandibles unwittingly, piercing green eyes fixed on the screen.

Anderson clenched his jaw, deep in thought, trying to keep his emotions from showing.

He knit his brows. "Shepard?"

"Sir!" The two stood to attention in perfect unison.

"Grab your gear. And tell Alenko and Jenkins to suit up." He exhaled sharply. "This mission just got a hell lot more complicated."

He turned on heel and marched out of the comm room without turning back. David Shepard followed, but he wasn't as strong as not to take one last look at the terrifying image on the screen.

Cassidy closed her eyes, sending out a silent prayer to whatever god might be watching. She was prepared to leave as well, but she hesitated.

"...Nihlus?"

The turian blinked, as if awoken from a trance. "Sorry. I just... can't shake the feeling I've seen this before." He narrowed his eyes, staring at the screen intently. "And at the same time... It's something new."

"New?" Shepard didn't like the sound of that word. "Scary?"

Nihlus jerked his head to look at her, surprised at the question. He couldn't control the way his pupils expanded and his mandibles moved, though—the picture on the screen made him nervous.

"...Terrifying," he said in a low voice, the turian subvocals only making it sound more ultimate. "Absolutely terrifying."

* * *

"Do we have any intel on what even happened down there?"

Lieutenant Alenko was a good soldier, but his timing was rarely so. Like now, for example: he was asking questions Shepard couldn't answer, only adding to the pressure the Commander was already feeling.

At least the turian seemed to have finally left him alone for a while.

Eden Prime was a human colony. Nihlus had no business there—Well, he _hadn't_. Now? Shepard would probably be happy even to see a second Spectre on that planet.

Not that there was any chance of that happening.

"I have no idea, Kaidan," was all he said aloud. "Focus on the task at hand for now."

Captain Anderson walked up to the three of them, something very obviously on his mind.

"Shepard, a word."

David excused himself and followed the captain a few meters away, out of the soldiers' earshot.

"Sir?"

Anderson looked around. "Listen, this mission is crucial. Humanity's been pushing for this for a long time and I don't want any heroics from you if it'll jeopardize that. Understood?"

"Yes, sir."

"You go in, secure that beacon, and go out. You're going to come across survivors, but remember that protecting civilians is a secondary task."

David narrowed his brows. "With all due respect, sir, protecting civilians is _never_ a secondary task."

For a longer moment, Anderson looked at him without a word. He just smiled weakly in the end.

"Jesus... This galaxy needs more soldiers like you, Shepard."

He patted the younger man on the shoulder and walked away, on his way almost bumping into Nihlus.

"Are you coming with us?" Shepard asked, surprised to see the Spectre join them.

"That depends," the turian didn't even look up at him, instead checking the barrel of his assault rifle. "Is the other Shepard coming along?"

"Yeah." Cassidy rolled her shoulder, looking slightly uncomfortable in the heavy N7 armor she had been given. "I'm going."

"In that case, I'll go with her. Five people is too much crowd for a recon mission. We're supposed not to attract attention."

David nodded. Turning to his sister, "Are you going to be okay?"

"What, you mean Nihlus?" She laughed dryly. "I'm not scared of him just because he's a Spectre. If he tries anything, I'll shoot him."

David sighed. "Do _not_. Imagine what the Council will be like if he dies on this mission."

"Point taken. I'll try to keep the turian alive, then." She dropped her voice. _"There's_ something you don't usually hear a human say." Louder, she said, "Are you okay with this, Kryik?"

Nihlus shrugged. "As long as you can keep up."

He took a running start and jumped out of the ship. Cassidy shook her head before following.

David looked at his squadmates. "You heard the man. We move fast." He put on his helmet. "...I don't like any of this."

He held on to the Normandy's wall as the ship approached the second drop zone. Shaking. Noise. None of that bothered him anymore, not after all those years.

"Alright," he ordered once the ground wasn't far. "Let's move out!"

Jenkins was first on the ground, with Shepard and Alenko jumping out just a second later.

Shepard looked around, assessing the terrain.

He pulled out his assault rifle. "Alright, this is it. Stay close and move fast." He received simple nods of acknowledgment from his squadmates. "Let's go."

* * *

"Shit," Shepard gasped. "You... weren't kidding... about... keeping a pace, huh?"

Nihlus glanced at her. "If you can't keep up with _me_ , you will never survive if a krogan charges at you."

She knew her helmet concealed it, but she couldn't help making a face at that. "Was that supposed to be reassuring or...?"

Nihlus stopped, raising a clenched fist—a universal sign to halt. "Wait."

He drew his pistol and flicked off the safety. Shepard narrowed her brows, listening intently.

A mechanical whirring, some kind of floating device.

Two precise shots from Nihlus's pistol deactivated both drones almost immediately.

"What are _those?"_ Shepard asked as they approached the now-dead devices.

Nihlus experimentally nudged one with his foot. "No idea..."

She didn't like that even a Spectre didn't know what kind of enemy they were facing. She turned on her communicator.

"To any Alliance units in the area. This is Commander Shepard. We ran into hostiles on the way," she said into the radio. "The attackers are synthetics of unknown origin. Proceed with caution."

 _"Shepard here,"_ David's voice sounded in her earbloom. _"Can confirm hostiles in the area. We think they may be geth. We're one man down but pushing on. Over and out."_

"Damn it," Cassidy cursed. Casualties already? This was bad. Besides, both Alenko and Jenkins were good soldiers. They should have been able to handle themselves... But if what David had said was true...

"Geth?" Nihlus tilted his head, echoing her thoughts perfectly. "That's... wrong. It shouldn't be possible."

"The geth haven't been seen outside the Veil for over 300 years," Cassidy noticed. "Why would they attack a human colony now?"

"I don't know. But if we want to find out, we'd better move, fast."

"I'm sorry. I must be slowing you down."

"Not at all." Nihlus looked at her. "If anything, this will be a good opportunity to evaluate your performance in the field."

Shepard stopped. She furrowed her brows.

"I thought you were here to evaluate David," she said quietly.

"Ah..." Nihlus paused. "Crap." He took off his helmet, clearly resigned. "Look, the Council isn't ready for two human Spectres, okay? Ambassador Udina recommended your brother for the position, but Captain Anderson said _you_ might be a better choice. And taking Anderson's... _history_... Well. I was told to take his suggestion into consideration as well."

"No one told me about this," Shepard said coldly. "Don't get me wrong, I'm honored, but I don't like being lied to."

"And that moral code is one of the things that speaks in your favor. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I recall you adhere to it a bit more strictly than to written rules. The position of a Spectre could turn out to be just what you're looking for."

Shepard inhaled sharply. "Let's get one thing straight: I'm not going to undermine my own flesh and blood for a chance to get my dream job." She punched herself mentally. _Dream job? Good riddance, Shepard_. She probably shouldn't make her ambitions so clear. "It's David you want for this, not me. He's a goddamn hero, that one."

She shook her head; there was no point in arguing about this right now. She grabbed her sniper rifle and checked the ammo.

Nihlus clicked his mandibles in surprise

"...Is _that_ what you're planning to use?" he asked, not even trying to hide his feelings on the matter.

Now, Shepard was surprised. "Yes... Why, is there a problem?"

"That's a typically long-range weapon. If we run into more of those geth, you might get into trouble."

She gritted her teeth. "Let _me_ worry about keeping the enemies at a distance. You don't have authority over me, Spectre."

Maybe he wouldn't be so condescending if he'd actually _seen_ her shoot.

She knew well enough that she was one of the best sharpshooters in the N7 program. It wasn't a boast—it was a _fact_. She'd picked up a sniper rifle when she was twenty and never once considered changing specialization. Anderson said she had a 'gift'. She didn't know about that, but she _did_ know she was a pretty damn good shot.

And that was all that mattered.

"Don't worry, Nihlus," she said, now calmer. "I can handle myself." She smirked. "And if I get into trouble, you'll have an opportunity to show off your skills." She narrowed her brows, looking down from the hill they'd wound up on. The view of the colony was very good from here, allowing for a quick plan. The geth seemed to be concentrated mostly around the large building next to a train station. "There. Look."

"A spaceport." Nihlus followed her gaze. "It's worth checking out."

_"Nihlus?"_

Nihlus put a hand to his auricular canal, activating his communicator. He sounded only slightly exasperated as he answered. "I read you. What is it, Shepard?

_"We're at the excavation site, but the beacon isn't here, it must have been moved. We'll head for the research camp now."_

"Roger that." Cassidy nodded her head. "We're going to check out the spaceport nearby. Let's stay in radio contact."

* * *

David Shepard was feeling worse by the minute.

Even if it hadn't been for Jenkins dying so stupidly during the first minutes of the mission and the geth appearing suddenly in Council space, the devastation on Eden Prime would have been enough to piss him off.

The soldier they had rescued didn't seem to know much more than they did, too. But she seemed like a capable woman, and Shepard had never been one to turn down help.

"Commander, sir!" She saluted, standing to attention once she recognized the markings on his armor. The N7 on his chest was probably more impressive than the officeral rank.

"At ease, soldier," he said. "What's your designation?"

"Gunnery Chief Williams from the 212th Division. Thank you for the help."

"Commander Shepard. And that's Lieutenant Alenko."

"Shepard..." She repeated. "Are... Is it possible— I mean, are you related to—?"

"She's my sister," Shepard said curtly. He hated that. Just once he would like to meet someone who recognized him for his own achievements before pinning him down as _Commander Shepard's brother_. "Williams, give me a status report. What happened here?"

"Um, yes, sir. The geth attacked maybe a few hours ago, if not less. We've been fighting ever since, trying to protect the civilians, but, to be frank, sir? It's like a slaughter. I've lost my entire squad during the first few minutes of the attack."

"Any idea what they're here for?" Shepard asked. He was afraid he knew the answer.

"Most probably the beacon," Kaidan's words echoed his thoughts.

Williams pursed her lips. "That damned thing. I had a bad feeling from the moment they dug it up."

"Do you know where it is now?"

"Yes, sir. It's just by that hill, next to the research camp."

Shepard and Kaidan exchanged looks, but it didn't need much thinking.

"Come with us, Williams. We could use an extra pair of hands."

"Yes, sir."

For a short moment, Shepard's mood actually brightened—as much as was possible under the circumstances, at least. It didn't last long.

Honestly, it seemed like everything about this mission was falling apart.

And now, the beacon was gone.

"I don't understand," Williams repeated. She really did seem confused, so Shepard decided to give her the benefit of the doubt. "The beacon was right here. It must have been moved to the research camp, or... I swear it was here."

"Moved," Kaidan repeated. "By our side or the geth?"

"Hard to tell," she replied, shaking her head lightly. "Commander?"

Shepard turned on his communicator. "Nihlus?"

There was a short silence on the line, then Nihlus's voice sounded in David's earbloom.

_"I read you. What is it, Shepard?"_

"We're at the excavation site, but the beacon isn't here—it must have been moved." He looked around. "We'll head for the research camp now."

 _"Roger that,"_ Cassidy said. _"We're going to check out the spaceport nearby. Let's stay in radio contact."_

Shepard turned off his comm. He briefly looked at Kaidan and Ashley. "Let's go."

He didn't like the idea of Cassidy being alone with Nihlus now. Not that he doubted her skill. He didn't—she was his sparring partner and he knew firsthand how good she was. He didn't think Nihlus was going to be a problem, either—he seemed like an honorable turian. _Even_ if that sounded like an oxymoron. Humans were naturally programmed to distrust turians—or at least, that's how Shepard explained his unease.

They had barely made it to the research camp before a swarm of those previously human creatures attacked them. Those things still made Shepard's blood run cold, but they were nothing in comparison to what happened next.

Among the silence filled with only the crackling of burning trees, a shot rang through the air.

Ashley stopped. "Is anyone else here?"

"My sister," Shepard said through gritted teeth, "and a Council Spectre called Nihlus Kryik. They went ahead to scout out the situation."

Kaidan narrowed his brows. "Sounds like they got in trouble."

"Or worse," Shepard muttered. A single gunshot could mean anything, and he couldn't help but remember Cassidy's words about shooting Nihlus. Surely she wouldn't? Not without reason, that's for sure. His death would be bad for not just this mission, but all of humanity. Shepard knew she wasn't any more keen on turians than he was, but even she wouldn't... "Damn it. Come on people, let's move!"

More husks attempted to attack them, but now that Williams was on the team, they were barely a threat—more like an inconvenience. The creatures seemed to lack any sort of intelligence, going for the target without any regard for their life in an almost zombie-like fashion. That made them much easier to deal with and at the same time all the more terrifying.

The three ran into the camp, guns drawn and ready to shoot if necessary. Shepard motioned for his subordinates to lower their guns.

"Cassidy?!" He looked around, scanning the area for enemies. None could be seen. "...Nihlus?!"

"Commander." Kaidan motioned for him to come over. "Here. Look."

A fresh bloodstain. Dark red, could not have been a turian's.

"Crap... Stay with me here..."

Shepard narrowed his brows, walking in the direction the voice was coming from. He drew his pistol, wary.

"...Nihlus?"

"Damn it." The turian stood up slowly. His hands were stained with blood—which David was now almost certain was human. "Shepard, I—"

Kaidan crossed his arms. "What happened here?!"

"I don't understand—" When dextros got overemotional, the subvocals of their voices tended to take over, and that was making it really difficult for the three humans to understand the shaken up Nihlus right now. "It was Saren, he—"

"Saren?

"A... Spectre—" His words were barely recognizable under the subvocals. "My... former CO..."

Nihlus made a deep growling sound as he was unable to speak over the nerves, teeth bared, nostrils flaring, mandibles clenched—all telltale signs of barely controlled anger.

"...He shot Shepard!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter length is probably going to differ a lot, just a heads up.


	2. Heaven Sent

David saw red.

"He did _what_?! Why would a Spectre do that?!"

"I think—he might've been aiming for me, I don't know—" The turian was angry and confused at the same time, a bad combination for someone trying to communicate coherently. "She tried to pull me aside and—"

A hand grabbed his collar, pulling him down to the human's eye level.

"Is she alive?!"

Nihlus almost took a step back after seeing the searing rage on Shepard's face. _Next person who says humans are weak gets punched in the face._

"She's breathing, but I've used up the last of my medi-gel on her. Don't know human physiology well enough to tell you more."

Kaidan knelt down, assessing Cassidy's wound in a way a turian couldn't.

"Bullet went straight through her shoulder, Commander. Just barely grazed the bone."

Shepard pushed Nihlus away, now calmer.

"Lucky," he said. "She always has been." He nodded his head, back to commander mode. "Alenko, you take the Commander back to the Normandy. Dr Chakwas should take a look at her. In the meantime, I'd like to have a _chat_ with that Saren person."

"You're not the only one," Ashley Williams said firmly. "Cassidy Shepard was a hero during the Blitz. She really showed everyone how far a girl can get in the military."

"So you're a fan," Kaidan summed up.

"Yeah," she nodded. "And anyone who messes with my heroes gets what they deserve."

"You might not get the chance," Nihlus said gravely. "Look."

"What...? The hell is that?" Ashley looked in the same direction.

"Is that a _ship_?" Kaidan was wide-eyed. "It's massive!"

"That's the Sovereign. Saren's ship," Nihlus explained. He clicked his mandibles, clearly ruffled. "Damn it. There's no chance we'll catch up to him now."

Shepard wrinkled his nose, the anger he'd been keeping down now boiling inside him.

"That still does not explain why your _buddy_ tried to _murder_ my sister!" He pointed a finger at Nihlus. "I am this close to doing something we'll both regret."

"Calm down, Shepard." The Spectre crossed his arms, taking a more controlled approach to the situation. "And you, Alenko, you were supposed to take Commander Shepard to the Normandy. Do it."

"Uh... yessir," Kaidan mumbled, lifting the unconscious Cassidy off the ground.

"I can assure you, Commander, no 'buddy' of mine acts that way." He growled - a sound that was almost animal. "Damn it! I don't understand why Saren was here."

"Could have been about the beacon," Ashley noticed. "But... that would mean he's allied with the geth."

"Is that possible?" Shepard asked immediately.

"I can't tell." Nihlus crossed his arms. "But Saren's never been a fan of humanity. Like many turians, he doesn't see the potential of your species, but he's among those who take it to the next level." He looked at the sky. "Attacking a human colony to steal a Prothean relic sounds just right up his alley, but siding with the geth? I don't know, Shepard."

"That doesn't explain why he kept you and Commander Shepard alive," Williams sounded suspicious. "Assuming we can trust you, that is."

"She's got a point," Shepard said slowly. There was something that didn't quite add up about the whole thing.

"Right. Leaving witnesses is not Saren's style..." Nihlus seemed just as confused for a moment, but the same realization that dawned on Shepard must have hit him at the same time.

"They're going to blow up the colony," they said in almost perfect unison.

* * *

Shepard mumbled a swear, moving his head to avoid being hit by a bullet. Way too close.

"Where did all these geth come from, anyway?!" he shouted, exasperated. Just minutes earlier, those husks seemed to be the only real problem.

Nihlus pressed his back to the wall near where David was working on an explosive. "Don't talk, just disarm that thing!"

The control diodes changed to green. Disarmed.

"We're clear here," Shepard said. "How many left?"

Ashley brought up a thermomap on her omnitool. "Just one," she said.

"Great." Shepard reached for his assault rifle. "Let's get this over with."

He leaned out of cover to assess the location of the enemies. Silently, he wished Cassidy were there; her sharpshooting would have made this much easier. He blinked—no, he couldn't afford to get distracted right now. Too much was at stake.

Running to the other side of the catwalk, he put several rounds into the two geth infiltrators nearby. Williams took out the one on the right - she was a surprisingly good shot, considering her weapon of choice seemed to be a machine pistol.

"It's clear," Nihlus called out from several feet ahead already. Shepard shook his head at that. _He wasn't kidding, he really_ is _fast_. "Keep up, Shepard."

The last crate of explosives was significantly easier to disarm—now that there weren't bullets flying in the air. Shepard had it done in less than a minute.

"Alright," he said. "All explosives disarmed."

Ashley breathed out slowly, hands on her nape. "Not what I expected when I got assigned to guard a farming colony," she muttered. Shepard suspected he wasn't even supposed to hear it.

"Let's focus on locating that beacon," he said.

"Assuming Saren hasn't taken it off-world," Nihlus said grimly.

Shepard levelled a glare at him. He crossed his arms.

"Is pessimism an inherently turian trait or do you people get taught that somehow?"

Nihlus shrugged. "If you always expect the worst, you make room to be pleasantly surprised half of the time."

"That's not the best life philosophy," Ashley noticed.

"It works for me," Nihlus said in a tone that clearly indicated the conversation was over.

Shepard looked at the landing pad nearby. There was a stairway not far from them joining it with the catwalk. It looked like the only way forward.

Once they'd walked down and dealt with the two geth guards on the pad, the situation—however grim it still was—became a little bit brighter.

"Well, what do you know," Nihlus said, crossing his arms. "Pleasantly surprised."

Shepard narrowed his brows, looking at the completely alien device in front of them. It didn't look like anything he'd seen before.

"Is that the beacon?" he asked.

"Yes," Ashley said hesitantly. "Though it wasn't doing... _that_... before."

Nihlus put a hand on Shepard's chestplate, holding him back (and earning an annoyed look from the Commander).

"Don't go near it," he said in a low voice. "It must have been activated. There's no telling what will happen if someone touches it."

Shepard angrily batted his hand away. He was a military man and wasn't a stranger to small to none personal space, but this one was a _turian_. He'd have to give up a lot of his beliefs to be touched by a turian so casually.

"You could have just _said_ so," he growled. Activating his communicator, "Shore party to Normandy, do you read me?"

 _"We're here,"_ Joker's voice replied almost immediately. _"And we have Commander Shepard and Lieutenant Alenko on board."_

"Good. We need pickup at the coordinates..." He drifted off, looking at the others. "Williams, what the hell are you doing?!"

He grabbed her arm and forcefully pulled her away from the beacon.

"Didn't you hear what Nihlus _just_ said?!"

She massaged her temple, furrowing her brows. "I... don't feel so good..."

Shepard narrowed his brows. "What is with this thing?" Now he, too, was beginning to feel this dull throbbing just under his skull. He felt himself drawn to the beacon, now not sure why he had even pulled Williams away from it.

"Some kind of low-energy psychic field?" Nihlus guessed. "Hard to tell. Prothean technology isn't usually _functional_."

David tilted his head, just barely keeping himself from reaching out to touch it. He took one step closer.

"...Shepard?"

Something like a spark of electicity jumped between him and the beacon, and then many things happened so fast that David's brain barely kept up.

The moment he tried to turned away, the previously metaphysical force pulling him toward the beacon suddenly became very tangible and much stronger, moving him completely despite his will and filling his brain with imagery of apocalypse and death and dectruction, and suffering—so much suffering, so much pain, and he felt that pain in every bit of his being, every single cell of his body burning as the images flashed before his eyes: death, killing, so much pain, so much pain and he could do nothing except watch millions upon millions and millions die in great pain, and he felt their pain in himself too, and it was so much... He felt his grip on reality loosening, but he welcomed it—anything to distance himself from what he was seeing, anything to take that pain away.

He lost consciousness.

* * *

"Shepard!"

For most of his life, Nihlus Kryik chose risk—and this time was no different.

He didn't wait to see if the beacon was going to kill Commander Shepard or not—he immediately packed a full round from his assault rifle into the thing. And then another, and another, until finally the stasis field around Shepard turned off and the beacon blew up into smoke.

With a thud, David Shepard's seemingly lifeless body fell to the ground. He didn't look hurt and from what Nihlus could see, he was even breathing, but aside from that, the man was out cold.

Nihlus gritted his geeth, angry at the whole situation.

Destroying the beacon was among the worst things he could have done—but after he'd failed to protect Cassidy, he sure as hell wasn't letting another Shepard down. And there was still the matter of Saren...

"Help me carry him," he said to the other human—the woman whose name he hadn't bothered to learn yet.

For now, there were other things to worry about. Other things to do.

The Council was going to be so mad.

* * *

Shepard groaned, feeling more or less like hell. There was still a dull throbbing in the back of his head, similar to a hangover, but it wasn't as terrible anymore. He could think clearly now.

He raised his head, looking around to see where he'd woken up. He was in the Normandy's medbay, and Cassidy was there too, sitting on the bed next to his and smiling bitterly.

"Slept well, I hope?" She rested her chin on her hands.

"Not really," David admitted. "I had one hell of a nightmare."

"Don't dismiss it as a dream so soon, Shepard."

David darted his head towards the door, surprised to see not only Nihlus, but Captain Anderson and Dr Chakwas too.

"The nightmare is very much real," Nihlus summed up pessimistically. "Everything went wrong. Hundreds of innocents died. You two got hospitalized and the beacon was destroyed."

"It was?" David sat up quickly. "How?!"

"I blew it up." The turian looked away. "...I don't want to talk about it."

"Whatever happened down there," Cassidy said, "it sounds like I missed _a lot_."

"I'll explain later," David promised. "...As much as I'm able to, at least. I don't understand what... happened."

"Gunnery Chief Williams and I brought you back to the Normandy after you passed out," Nihlus explained. "The doctor said you were alright, physically."

"Thanks," Shepard said curtly.

Nihlus nodded his head. "Of course. Now, if you don't mind, I'll be leaving. We're docking at the Citadel in an hour and I still don't know what to tell the Council."

He left without any further ado.

"We're going to the Citadel?" Cassidy jumped off the bed. She experimentally rolled her previously wounded shoulder and smiled once she assessed everything was alright. "Isn't that a bad idea now?"

Anderson nodded at Doctor Chakwas to leave. She sent one last look at her patients, but complied.

Now that the three were alone, the captain let his weariness show a bit more. He was close to both of those kids and Cassidy was almost like a daughter to him, so protocol had always been treated lightly between them.

He sighed, leaning on the wall behind him.

"I'm not gonna lie to you two," he said, "this is all really bad. A human colony attacked by the geth! This can't lead to anything good. Nihlus probably saved your life by destroying that beacon, but I wish he hadn't been so careless." Anderson buried his face in his hands, feeling troubled. "And there's still the matter of that other turian. Saren."

"Ah, yes, _that_ son of a bitch," Cassidy growled. "I was wondering when he'd come up."

"Saren Arterius. Trouble always follows for humanity when he's involved. But facing him off could be difficult. He's a Spectre," Anderson explained. "And not just any Spectre. He's... _my_ Spectre."

David narrowed his brows.

"What does that mean?" he asked.

"You're not the first humans to be considered to join the Spectres." Captain Anderson looked down. "Fifteen years ago, I was the most promising candidate."

Cassidy clenched her jaw. "You never mentioned this." She was feeling betrayed, which she thought was petty, considering the big picture.

"And I had a reason. You see, Saren was supposed to evaluate me, like Nihlus with you. Like your mission, ours went bad too. And like your mission, Saren was the reason." He narrowed his brows. "He will do anything to keep humanity on the sidelines, and he's not above sacrificing innocents to do that."

"I don't like this. Not even one bit." Cassidy walked to the door. "Captain, you know you didn't deserve that."

Anderson shook his head slowly. "The Council made their decision in my case years ago. There's no point in dragging it out. I had my shot and I threw it. All we can do now is focus on the two of you. _You_ still have a shot. Don't throw it away."

The twins looked at each other.

"We won't," David promised quietly.

"You'd better. Cassidy, could you come with me?"

She glanced at her brother, not sure about leaving him.

"Tell us about the thing," she said. "Then we can talk."

Anderson followed her gaze towards David. "What thing?"

"The thing that's got him so rattled," Cassidy said softly. "You've got that worried look again... What happened down there?"

David sighed. There was no hiding things from her.

"Before I passed out," he explained, "I saw... something. The beacon must have triggered it. It was... so much." He rubbed his forehead. "I saw... synthetics—maybe geth—just... butchering people. Slaughtering them. I..."

"Think it's a warning?" Cassidy crossed her arms. "That the geth will attack humanity?"

"I don't know," David said quietly. He hung his head, sitting on the edge of the bed. "Why would that warning come from a Prothean relic? The geth were created thousands of years after the Protheans went extinct."

"It could be psychic," Cassidy wondered aloud. "You were already shaken up by the geth and what they'd done to the colonists on Eden Prime. The beacon could have picked up on that and showed you a manifestation of what you were afraid of at the moment."

She felt a little taken aback when they both looked at her.

"...It's just an idea," she said bashfully.

Anderson cleared his throat. "Well, thanks to Nihlus's quick reflex in saving your life, there's no way to find out." He looked at David again, this time with more hesitation. "...Cassidy, a word?"

She nodded curtly. "Yes, sir. Of course."

* * *

"Cassidy, I was going to ask you to let your brother go. Let him take the blame for everything that went wrong on Eden Prime."

"But sir—!"

"Shepard, _I_ am talking."

"...Yes, sir. Sorry, sir."

"After what happened, there's no way the Council will allow both of you to be considered for the Spectres. If humanity's to accomplish anything in this case, we need one of you to stand up. I wanted that to be you."

"Why not David? If I may ask."

"You get the job done and you don't make a mess. A quality that's hard to come by nowadays. And being a Council Spectre would entail... Well, dealing with the Council." Anderson wrinkled his nose. "I don't trust your brother's attitude towards aliens... Especially turians."

"He can be civil," Shepard said calmly. "You've seen him with Nihlus."

"Yes. I don't doubt that. Still, out of the two of you, you're the better diplomatic choice."

"But?"

Anderson raised an eyebrow. "How did you know there's a but?"

Shepard smiled. "With all due respect, sir, it's been eight years. I know that face."

He smiled weakly too, even if it was brief. "Spoke the truth. Ha. The truth is, this... vision your brother got from touching the beacon? I have a feeling that's more than a residue psychic field."

"You think that could fast-track his admission into the Spectres," she realized.

"Yes," Anderson nodded. "...At the cost of your application."

Cassidy pursed her lips. She didn't like the idea of David being a Spectre, to be honest. A human Spectre was an amazing concept, but it should have been _her_. It _should_ have been her. That job was everything she could ever hope for—it was almost as if this opportunity had been made specially for her. And now she was supposed to give it away?! How was that fair?

It _wasn't_. It really wasn't.

She breathed out. "Fine. Make the call. There are worse people than David Shepard in this galaxy." She smiled sadly. "And at least him I'll be able to keep an eye on."

Anderson nodded. "Right. Thank you, Cassidy. I know how much this means for you." He glanced behind his shoulder, but they were alone. "I'll go inform Nihlus about this. In the meantime, get ready for landing."

He walked away, his steps echoing in the empty hall leading to the medbay.

She opened the door shyly.

David looked up the moment she walked in. It didn't seem like he'd moved at all.

"Hey."

"Hey." She sat down on the empty bed. "What a great start, huh?"

He exhaled, slightly amused. "No shit. I knew we can't be stationed together. Bad luck just follows around."

"We won't be serving together for much longer, don't worry about that." She looked down, at the floor. "Only one of us can be a Spectre now, and it's gonna be you."

David crossed his arms. Neither of them spoke a word for a while.

"I... heard about what happened," Cassidy whispered eventually. She was being very careful, aware that each word in this subject was like a mine in a minefield. "I mean Akuze. I... I'm so sorry."

David took in a deep breath.

"Don't be," he said. He exhaled shakily. "I've been trying to come to terms with that for a while now... And talking about it hasn't been helpful."

"Sorry." She looked down. "What _has_ been helpful?"

He smiled bitterly. "If I find out, I'll let you know."

* * *

 _So this is the Citadel_ , Shepard thought. _The pinnacle of galactic power._

The place was enormous. He had been on his share of space stations and this one was by far the largest. _When the Protheans built something, they weren't messing around_. That godforsaken beacon was just another example.

"Wow!" Ashley ran ahead, stopping only by the end of the sidewalk to lean over the guardrails. "They built a lake here!" She turned back to look at the others. "You think anyone's ever drowned in it?"

Shepard shrugged, both because he didn't know and didn't care. Honestly, he still wasn't so sure what exactly Williams was doing here. She'd saved his life on Eden Prime, but he didn't exactly understand why she continued to stick around afterward. It wasn't like he had anything against her—it was just that he liked knowing what he stood on.

Which, right now, on many levels, he didn't.

"We're not here for a sightseeing tour," he said firmly. If she was going to stay around, she was going to have to learn that under his command, the mission took priority. "Maybe some other day."

"Of course, sir." She nodded her head. "Sorry."

"The captain said that we should head to... Citadel Tower." Kaidan pulled up a holomap on his omnitool, looking at it intensely. "Wow. This place is like a maze."

"Where did you get the map?" Shepard complained. _He_ didn't have a map.

"You can download for free it from Avina's interface," Kaidan said simply. "...That's the Citadel's VI guide."

"I know what Avina is," Shepard said, offended. He didn't want to mention that he hadn't known that five minutes earlier. He deadpanned. "...Just... tell us which way to go."

"Well," Alenko put his hands on his hips, "I'm not _sure_ , but I'm going to go out on a limb here and say it's that great big tall tower over there."

"Smartass," Williams muttered. "Anyone could have just looked up."

"Will you two _please,_ just..." Shepard put a hand to his forehead. "Just stop. I don't have the nerves for this right now."

"Are you scared what the Council might say?" Kaidan didn't seem to be very bothered by the situation. "Why would you? If anyone, they're going to blame Nihlus."

Ashley shook her head. "I don't know." She looked around, furrowing her brows. "I don't think they're going to pile the blame on a turian. Not if there's a conveniently placed human scapegoat nearby."

Shepard sighed, holding the elevator door open for them. "Thank you for _that."_

"I'm just saying how it is. Turians hold pretty much all the military power in the galaxy _and_ they hate humans."

Shepard rolled his eyes. "The feeling is mutual."

Kaidan watched the exchange between the other two soldiers with growing concern. "...Please don't talk like that to the Council," he whimpered.

The elevator door opened and the three stepped into a vast hall with blossoming cherry trees on either side. There was a fountain in the center of the room. Shepard noticed Nihlus among the group of turians who were arguing nearby. Captain Anderson and Ambassador Udina were standing on the other side of the room, not getting along either.

"This place kind of reminds me of where I grew up on Earth," Kaidan said softly. "Do you think that's intentional?"

Ashley crossed her arms. "I don't think either answer is good," she noticed.

"Let's just move along," Shepard said. Two of the turians looked at them when he spoke—Nihlus and the officer he recognized as the C-Sec executor from the Presidium.

"Shepard? Come over here." Nihlus called him over with a nod of his head. Two other turians were with him, both in C-Sec uniforms.

David walked up to them, not really sure how he felt about this.

"I'll vouch for him," Nihlus was saying. "I hope that's enough."

One of the C-Sec officers bowed his head. "Of course, sir. Sorry, sir." He looked at Shepard. "Commander." Mumbling something about _damn humans_ , he walked away.

Nihlus cleared his throat. "Shepard. Good to see you back on your feet." He nodded at the young turian, the one who had stayed behind. "This is Detective Vakarian. He was looking into Saren's case long before we even picked up on it."

The C-Sec officer looked at Shepard. "Commander. It's good to see at least your Alliance takes this seriously. There's hoping with your testimony, this case can finally go somewhere."

Shepard raised an eyebrow. "Haven't had luck, I take it?"

"Ha. If it weren't for Officer Kryik, I'd have lost my job already. Saren's position makes him virtually untouchable." He glanced at Nihlus, hesitating. "Maybe with a Spectre's support..."

"You're a good cop, Vakarian." Nihlus put a hand on his shoulder. "But don't overdo it. You did a good job getting even _this_ far. Just leave this to the Commander and me for now."

"I just hope you have more luck than me."

Nihlus sighed as the younger turian walked away.

"They almost fired the kid just because he was looking into Saren," he said. "...That doesn't bode well for our case."

"I thought your status as a Spectre would speak in our favor," Shepard noticed.

"It does. But Saren's a Spectre too, and he's in many ways my senior. Honestly, the Council is much more likely to believe his word than mine.

"I was just on my way to talk to them."

"Do _not_." Nihlus narrowed his eyes. "We need hard evidence first. If we make a move earlier, it will only alert Saren."

Shepard crossed his arms. "Where exactly do I find _that_?"

"Off the top of my head? The young turian we just met. Tracking him down shouldn't be so hard."

Kaidan cleared his throat awkwardly. "Um... Commander? The Council is ready for us."

David knit his brows, looking from Nihlus to Kaidan, assessing whose plan had more merit. Because he sure as hell couldn't be in two places at once.

Well. _He_ couldn't.

He smiled, motioning for them to wait as he walked aside.

"Hold up. I need to make a call."

* * *

Shepard groaned, moments away from punching the quasar machine. She'd just lost five hundred credits. Not much, considering in the last fifteen minutes she'd almost doubled her paycheck, but it still hurt.

"Whatever," she mumbled, pushing her chair away. There was a pattern in quasar which she'd picked up on years earlier and allowed her to get the best chances for a payout.

Her omnitool lit up, informing about an incoming call. She put in her earbloom.

"Go for Shepard," she answered.

_"Cassidy?"_

"Oh, David, hi. I'm just here over at Flux." She stood by the large window overlooking the Wards. "This place is amazing."

 _"This isn't shore leave,"_ David groaned. _"We're on the Citadel for a reason."_

"Yeah, yeah," she waved a hand. "I got shot in the line of duty, I deserve this—and you're just being cranky. I'll buy you something nice for all the quasar money I've made."

David sighed. _"You're cheating in the casino games again?"_

"It's not cheating if there's a pattern," she was almost offended. "Whatever. Why did you call me?"

_"There's a small obstacle in our way. The Council probably won't listen to us unless we get hard evidence against Saren."_

"Of _course_ they won't." Cassidy couldn't help rolling her eyes. "What a bunch of prudes. What do you think we should do?"

_"I'm taking Alenko and Williams to try to appeal to them anyway, but Nihlus says it's futile. You go out and look for help."_

"That's pretty ambiguous."

 _"There's got to people on this station who were wronged by Saren too. With luck, maybe one of them will have something tangible_. _Hold on."_ There was a pause. _"Yeah, Nihlus just said there's a C-Sec officer, Harkin, who can point you to the right guy."_

"Great," she said dryly. "How I love those wild goose chases."

_"I don't like it either. I... Yes. Listen, I have to go. Check with Harkin, he should be at Chora's Den. Shepard out."_

The connection went out.

 _Harkin. That sounds like a turian name._ Cassidy winced. She'd had enough turians for one day. Especially after being shot by one.

She gave herself a mental kick. _No, that's wrong. That's how racism starts._

Sometimes she hated how her brain worked.

"Hey," she asked one of the patrons standing nearby, "can you point me to a place called Chora's Den?"

* * *

Chora's Den was a bar—what on Earth would probably have been called a "strip club". The lights were dimmed, but the colorful neons all over the place more than enough of a replacement. Honestly, Cassidy wanted to just get up and leave. This place was _so_ not her aesthetic.

For one, she liked not getting a seizure from all the flashing lights.

She'd barely made it inside before she noticed there was already a commotion happening. Three krogan standing by the door to a private room. Three. Krogan. Shepard did what she could not to moan out loud. _This day just keeps getting worse._

"Beat it, Wrex. Fist said to shoot you if you show your mug here again."

The other krogan—this guy clearly much older than the young bouncer—bared his teeth.

"Well, then, what are you waiting for? I'm. Right. Here."

"This is your final chance, Wrex."

"No. It's _your_ final chance," he rumbled lowly, turning his back on the bouncer—and standing practically face to face with Shepard.

He pushed her aside.

"Move aside, human," he growled. "My quarrel isn't with you."

Shepard raised her eyebrows, watching the krogan leave.

 _Well, that was odd._ She shook her head. _But none of my business._

"Hey there." She leaned on the bar.

"Hi." The asari bartender leaned towards her with a flirtatious smile. "Can I get you anything?"

"Just information today. Do you know a C-Sec officer named Harkin?"

The bartender rolled her eyes. "One of our best customers. Harkin's a regular." She nodded her head at the human sitting alone in the corner. "That's him over there."

Shepard smiled. "Thank you!"

She walked over to the table.

"Whoa-ho," the man said, clapping his hands when she approached. "Well, hello there, sweetheart. Dancers' entrance is over there."

Shepard wrinkled her nose. What a creep.

He eyed her hungrily. "Though I gotta say, the soldier getup looks _real_ good on that bod of yours. Ha! If more marines looked like you, I just might have joined the Alliance instead of C-Sec." He glanced over at the dancers by the bar. "Though the views around here aren't that bad, either."

Shepard gritted her teeth. _I can not punch the informant_ , she said to herself. _I should not punch the informant._

"You Harkin, I assume?"

"Oh. You've heard of me!" He grinned. "Flattered."

She took a deep breath. This guy was seriously testing her patience. She'd met men like this before—most of them ended up in the ER.

"I was told you can point me to someone investigating a turian Spectre called Saren."

"Saren?" He repeated, staring at her for a minute before bursting into uproarious laughter. "Oh, I see! You're with Garrus! So the poor bastard is still trying to bring Saren down? Oh... Oh, this is a good one! You're so gullible, you lot. Tell Garrus he's gullible."

Shepard deadpanned, "I have no idea who Garrus _is_ _._ "

Harkin leaned forward, looking at her face to see if she was serious. The heavy scent of alcohol hit Shepard's nostrils as soon as he got close. She wrinkled her nose.

"Hell. You really don't know him... So that means there's two of you. Which is somehow worse."

"What."

"Garrus _bleeds_ Saren." Harkin waved a hand. "He wants to bring him down more than anything else. Not healthy, that kind of obsession, really."

Shepard gently pushed him away from herself. "I've heard enough. Where can I find this Garrus?"

"Oh, hell if I know. Last I checked, he was talking to that human doctor in the Wards—Doctor Michel or something like that...? The guy's been pestering her for days now."

Shepard nodded curtly. "That's enough to go on." _Anything but keep talking to you_. "Thank you for your... cooperation."

Harkin laughed uproariously. "Anytime, doll! And if you ever find yourself in need again, come see old Harkin."

He gave her buttocks a firm smack.

Shepard gritted her teeth.

The asari bartender was watching her with some concern, probably afraid she'd make a scene. The turian officer previously focused on the stripper in front of him was now more interested in Shepard and Harkin. Even the music seemed quieter, though maybe that was just the blood pumping in Shepard's ears from anger.

Two swift movements. One, a kick to the table, spilling Harkin's drink all over his uniform, making him jump to his feet. The second one, grabbing his arm and twisting it until he yelped in pain.

She put her lips to his ear, squeezing harder, threatening to break his arm. "Big mistake," she growled lowly.

Harkin moaned, unable to make out a coherent word.

"I could kick your sorry ass the hell off this station. Or file a harassment report. But maybe I won't if you just get the hell out of here." She let go of his arm, pushing him away until he stumbled. "Now!"

Harkin only hesitated for a second before running out of the club.

Shepard breathed out, calming down, aware that pretty much everyone's eyes were on her.

She pulled up banking records on her omnitool. A quick transfer to the bartender.

"For all the trouble," Shepard said coldly. She walked away.

* * *

Shepard was really thankful for the rapid transit system on the Citadel because honestly she probably would have gotten lost in the Wards several times before making it to the med clinic. As it were though, she actually made pretty good time. So now all that was left was ask this Doctor Michel if she knew where this Garrus person was and since she probably wouldn't because, apparently, that's how things worked around here...

That train of thought was stopped suddenly when Shepard walked into the clinic. From the first moment she stepped inside, she could already sense something was off.

Crap!

The doctor was being threatened by a human mercenary.

"I didn't tell anyone about Fist, I swear!" Fist? Shepard's brain tried to remember when she'd heard the name before.

The merc shoved his pistol into her face. "That was smart, doc. Now, if Garrus comes around, you stay smart. Capiche?"

Shepard had seen enough. She drew her gun and pointed it at the mercenary.

"Let her go!"

The two looked at her in a split second. The man grabbed Doctor Michel and put his gun to her temple. "Who the hell are you—?"

He didn't get to finish that sentence when a bullet ripped into his skull, killing him instantly.

Shepard opened her mouth—she wasn't the one who had fired that shot.

"Doctor Michel!" A turian C-Sec officer she hadn't noticed earlier from his cover behind a counter was now vaulting over, running over the woman. "Are you alright? Did he hurt you?"

He helped her get up. Shepard holstered her gun hesitantly.

"I'm fine. Just a little shaken up..." The doctor spoke with a heavy French accent, which surprised Shepard, considering her young age. Born and raised on Earth. "I... Thank you. You probably saved my life."

The turian nodded simply, as if that was a given. He turned to Shepard.

"Well. I don't know who you are, but your timing is impeccable." He seemed _smug_ , if anything. "Gave me a clear shot at that bastard."

"You took a big risk back there." She was trying to be angry but the truth was, she probably would have taken that shot too. "Oh hell. You took him down clean. Nice shot."

"I got lucky. The distraction you posed actually helped a lot, so thank you for that. And... just who do I owe this thanks to?"

"I'm Commander Shepard, Alliance Navy."

The turian seemed puzzled. "I... don't think you are. I've already met Commander Shepard, and he looks much more... masculine."

"That must have been my brother. I'll admit, things have been confusing since he got promoted to Commander as well." She extended a hand. _"Cassidy_ Shepard."

"Garrus Vakarian." He shook her hand almost professionally. "I'm with Citadel Security."

"Really? What brings a C-Sec officer up here?"

"I was during an investigation into a Spectre by the name Saren Arterius—I believe he's gone rogue. Not that anyone wants to listen to a word I say."

"Huh." Shepard smiled widely. _Jackpot_. "Then it's your lucky day, Garrus Vakarian. I want to hear _everything_ you have to say."

"Saren is the best among the Spectres. That means no one likes it when a kid fresh from the Academy goes accusing him of treason. No one likes the kid, either." He sighed. "But _everyone_ likes Saren."

"Yeah, _I_ really don't. Not since he shot me yesterday."

Garrus lit up. "That's amazing! I mean... You were shot and that's not amazing. Though you look good—not that I'm paying attention! I mean, I _am_ paying attention—just not particularly to _you_. That sounded bad... No. What I mean is that you're a human female and, uh... a _human_. I mean... Ugh!" He banged his head on the wall. "Spirits, I'm such a failure."

Cassidy cleared her throat. "I... didn't mean to interrupt an existential crisis," she said awkwardly.

God, this was barely an adult. How old was he? She couldn't tell too precisely with turians, but he had to be at least three, four years younger than her. Just fresh out of the Academy? That would make him twenty-five—twenty-six, maybe.

Shepard thought fast, weighing the pros against the cons. This was a turian, which put a lot under a queation mark. Would he be willing to cooperate with the Alliance? Unknown. Was he anti-human? Doubtful. He was being far too civil for that. Would he be able to give any intel on Saren that could prove useful? Very possible. They just needed to sit down and talk.

She cleared her throat. "Listen, Vakarian, do you want to get a drink? Preferably somewhere with less blood and dead bodies around?"

"That's probably a smart idea," he agreed. "We _have_ made something of a mess in this place."

"Agreed. Though it wasn't such a bad fight, honestly. Over and done quickly."

"Ha. Spoke the truth." He holstered his gun, looking to the Commander with expectation. "Is there anything else?"

Cassidy looked up, staring at the ceiling. Sniper to sniper, she _had_ to admit one thing.

"You're a really good shot."


	3. Advocate of Truth

"Why do we even bother?" Ashley Williams crossed her arms, angry at everything—mostly so probably because she couldn't do anything about it. "Those guys wouldn't see danger if it was staring them right in the face."

"Williams." Shepard sent her a warning look.

"Sorry, sir. I'm just saying."

"You're _understandably_ frustrated," he said through gritted teeth. "But did you ever expect anything else? We're alone in this. The Council won't help humanity unless it benefits them." Now his own frustration was beginning to show too.

"Shepard!" Captain Anderson was running down the stairs towards the three soldiers. After successfully pulling Shepard aside, he lowered his voice to just barely above a whisper. "What the hell was that?! You can't just walk out on the Council!"

David wrinkled his nose. "I don't answer to them. And last time I looked, I didn't see a human Councillor up there."

"You pissed them off, Shepard. Udina too, and God knows he's hard to deal with anyway." Anderson crossed his arms. He breathed out. "I'm on your side here, David. But Nihlus was right—we need hard evidence if we're to sway the Council." Anderson snapped his fingers, making David look up. "Shepard! Do you understand?"

Shepard inhaled slowly, angry at everything.

"...Yes, sir."

His omnitool lit up—an incoming call. Great. Like he needed _more_ trouble. He angrily pressed the answer button.

"David Shepard," he growled.

 _"It's me,"_ Cassidy's voice came from the comm. _"I've got a lead you might want to check out."_

"Thank God," David muttered. "It's about time. What is it?"

_"Apparently, there's some quarian looking to trade information about the geth for protection. She's trying to set up a meeting with the Shadow Broker as we speak. I'll send you a navpoint with the coordinates."_

"You're not going?"

_"Not right now. I've got a krogan I wanna talk to while I can still catch up to him."_

"Alright, the— wait." His mind lagged a bit, trying to process all that new information. "A _krogan_? What are you _doing_ down there?! That's dangerous!"

 _"Don't worry. I'm going to be okay, Garrus is coming with me."_ She ended the call.

David blinked, completely lost.

"...Who the hell is Garrus?"

* * *

Shepard turned off her communicator. "That takes care of that," she said. "Now let's go find that krogan." She glanced at the turian, who was adjusting the maglock on his sniper rifle. "If you're going to come with, you do realize you'll have to follow orders. I'm in charge."

"Obviously." Vakarian nodded curtly. "You say jump, I say how high."

Shepard smirked, satisfied. She could get on board with _that_ kind of attitude. _I suppose that's to be expected, given that turians have to get through mandatory military training._ She was beginning to see why they were the most successful military force in the galaxy.

This area of the Wards was actually close to the C-Sec Academy, which saved Shepard from the embarrassment of having to look at a map for directions. She was still in wonder at all the people who navigated that station on a daily basis.

"I wonder what kind of offer Saren made Fist," Vakarian pondered while they waited for the elevator. "Betraying the Shadow Broker is a stupid move even for that weasel." He scoffed. "Should've locked him up months ago."

The elevator door opened with a ding and they stepped inside.

"Well, whatever Saren's offered him, it had better be useful." Shepard crossed her arms, leaning on the wall behind her. "The quarian may have information on the geth, but we're going to need a solid link between the attack on Eden Prime and Saren if the Council's to ever believe us."

"I never liked that Saren. Something about him has always rubbed me up the wrong way."

"Amen to that." Cassidy reached to her stomach, where she had been shot just the day before. She narrowed her brows. "And you're saying this mercenary can help us?"

"That's _not_ what I was saying," Vakarian said evenly. "The merc was hired by the Shadow Broker to get rid of Fist. That makes him an advantage for us to exploit. And a valuable ally—he _is_ a krogan."

"I do like advantages," Shepard admitted. "And having a krogan on our side doesn't sound that bad, either." Ideally, there wouldn't be krogan on _either_ side, but if she had to choose, she preferred not to have to fight one.

The elevator door opened and a mechanical voice of a VI announced they were now at the C-Sec Academy.

Shepard looked around, mildly curious. She'd heard that C-Sec was suspiciously militarized for a police force, but this lobby didn't look that different from most precincts she'd seen around the galaxy. And there were more humans working here than she'd expected. After turians, they seemed to be the largest ethnic group around here. That actually came as a surprise.

"I don't see any krogan," she said aloud, still scanning the room carefully, trying to take in all the details.

"That's okay, I used to work here," Garrus said as he purposefully walked to the asari officer manning the reception desk. "Hi there, Seyla."

She barely looked up from the computer she was typing into. "Garrus."

"I, um..." He cleared his throat, but that didn't get her attention. "Any chance a krogan mercenary named Wrex was arrested today?"

"Waiting room B."

"Thanks. Much appreciated."

The asari still didn't look up. "Whatever."

"Wow. Friendly workplace," Shepard noticed snarkily.

"The waiting rooms are over there." Her turian companion apparently decided to ignore that last comment. He nodded his head at the door. "After you."

Shepard shook her head, a smirk playing on her lips. "Wouldn't have it any other way."

On the plus side, a krogan warlord wasn't an easy thing to miss. On the downside though, the guy seemed a bit ticked off.

"You have no right to take my gun." He was in a heated—albeit civil—argument with a turian C-Sec officer. "There's no law against weapons on the Citadel. Give it _back."_

The turian bared his fangs. "You've already been released, Wrex. Just take what is given to you. And leave Fist alone."

"How do you want to play this?" Vakarian whispered. Shepard was pleasantly surprised to see that even now he didn't take charge. Turians really did know how to keep their men in line. _Human men could learn a thing or two from them,_ she decided.

"Well, straightforward honesty seems to have won _you_ over, so I'd say it's a good strategy."

She approached the krogan slightly nervously—something she couldn't control. Even if krogan hadn't been practically walking killing machines, the mass alone would have been intimidating. He towered over her _and_ the turians easily.

"Are you Urdnot Wrex?" She was aware of how pointless asking was at this point, but in the case of krogan, a little extra politeness couldn't hurt. She honestly had no idea what could set him off.

"I remember you," the krogan said. His voice was a low rumble, adding up to the aura of hostility around him. "From the bar. You were asking all those questions. About some C-Sec investigator?"

"I've found him, actually." She pointed a thumb at the turian standing behind her.

"I wish I'd had that much luck with my problem."

"Now, don't be like that. You call it _our_ problem."

Shepard sent Vakarian a deadly look. "No one asked you." She cleared her throat, turning back to the krogan. "But yes. Right now, we want to bring Fist down as much as you."

"Huh." He eyed the two of them carefully, as if assessing if they were worthy of his time. "There's a saying among my people: the enemy of my enemy is a friend of mine. I always thought it very accurate."

"Here's to hoping," Shepard said. She extended a hand. "Welcome to the team, Wrex."

He shook her hand carefully as not to break any bones and Shepard was still glad she hadn't taken off her armor.

She did what she could not to massage her hand after that—she was almost certain that could be seen as rude or offensive.

"I'm Commander Shepard with the Systems Alliance Navy, and that's Detective Vakarian with Citadel Security."

"Unlikely duo," Wrex noticed.

"It gets better," Garrus assured him. "We're trying to track down a quarian right now. And there's also geth involved."

The krogan grinned widely, showing off rows of perfectly sharp teeth. "Sounds like a party."

* * *

"Wow." Kaidan Alenko leaned on the windowsill as the three soldiers observed the buzzing streets of the Wards outside. "Big place."

Williams chuckled. "Is that your professional opinion, Lieutenant? _Big place_?"

"It's accurate," he said defensively. There was a moment of silence. "It... really makes you wonder, doesn't it?"

Shepard nodded his head thoughtfully. "It does," he agreed. "I never knew how many races the Council represents until today. You only ever hear about the big three."

"It does kind of explain why they're being so wary of humanity," Ashley admitted hesitantly.

A skycar flew by, so close to the window that its headlights reflected off of its surface, making little spots of light dance on the surface of the soldiers' armors.

It felt almost tranquil for a while.

Shepard felt like everything that had happened with Saren and the geth on Eden Prime was far away for a moment. Like they didn't have to track down that quarian and the Shadow Broker. Like they weren't on a mission for once.

He sighed.

"It does," he agreed with Ashley's last words. "If I had that many people relying on me, I probably wouldn't be quick to trust newcomers, either." He looked out the window. Each of those lights was an entire block, thousands of people of all races living in each of those sectors. The Citadel... It wasn't a space station. It was a _city_. The biggest megalopolis in the galaxy, bustling with life at all times—a hub of trade, culture, and transport. Millions upon millions came through the spaceports here every day. The vast majority of them probably weren't humans. "Nihlus was right. We are still new to all of this."

* * *

Things went to hell surprisingly fast, considering the team now consisted of a krogan warlord, an N7-designated Alliance officer, and a turian sharpshooter.

Shepard muttered a string of curse words, hiding behind the table she'd flipped over, while an overwhelming flurry of bullets banged into it.

Chora's Den was a small, closed club, which effectively rendered her almost useless. Her usual tactics wouldn't work in this environment. (Her weapon of choice, a sniper rifle, was almost completely useless in such close quarters.) She found herself wishing David were there. As a soldier, he was much more versatile and adaptive than she was.

"Damn it!" She exclaimed, shocked at how quickly it had gone downhill. "I've lost shields!"

Just her armor wouldn't hold many bullets back. The situation had suddenly become not only dangerous, but life-threatening.

"Shepard! Hold still!"

"What?!" She barely managed to look in Wrex's direction before she felt a strangely familiar knot in her stomach. In an instant, she was whipped from her cover to where the krogan was hiding behind the bar. Biotics. She'd forgotten about that.

"Thanks," she breathed out. "Saved my life."

He didn't answer, focused on taking out the mercenaries. Shepard narrowed her brows. She'd better start doing the same.

She reached into the pouch by her bandolier. She still had a couple of frags on her. Nothing fancy, but it would do the trick.

Throwing grenades seemed to work, because soon there were far fewer thugs actively trying to kill her—and of those even fewer reckless enough to leave cover and try. Vakarian shot everyone who dared.

Shepard drew her pistol, almost sad at the condition it was in. She really ought to change it for a newer model... Standard Alliance requisitions weren't exactly top-notch.

Dammit, focus. She pressed her back against the wall, steadying her breath like she'd done countless times before.

She leaned out of cover, quickly assessing the situation. A krogan mercenary was reloading his shotgun and she took that opportunity to pack a few bullets into his head. Two humans fell too, taken down by her teammates. Only one hostile left. She vaulted over the table Wrex had been using as cover—a move that she, admittedly, stole from Vakarian—and sprinted over to the human merc. A kick to his gut was something he hadn't been expecting, which made him stagger backwards and thus make an easy target for Wrex to take down.

"That's that," Shepard said. She glanced at the other two to assess their condition. There was some blood on Wrex's armor, but it was undoubtedly human—a dark shade of red.

"Entry to the private room is over there," the krogan said, pointing with his shotgun. The door didn't even have a maglock, Shepard noticed.

She kicked it down, glad to see she still could.

As soon as she did, two obviously scared men shakily pointed pistols at her. They weren't shooting right away—a surprise. They weren't wearing armor, either.

"Warehouse workers," Vakarian noticed. "All the real guards must be dead."

One of them pointed his gun at him almost immediately, clearly scared to the bone but ready to do his job.

"You can't go through!" He looked to Shepard, probably hoping she would listen. "T—turn back!"

She put her hands on her hips. "Is this job really worth getting killed over?"

The two exchanged looks, nervously glancing between the krogan and the turian. Shepard was convinced the three of them must have looked like an incarnation of death to the simple warehouse workers.

"Just go," Vakarian said flatly.

The workers didn't need more encouraging than that; they ran away as if chased by the devil himself.

"Would have been faster to just kill them," Wrex noticed.

"Shooting people isn't always the answer," the turian disagreed.

"Not always," Shepard agreed. "...Though surprisingly often."

She pressed the control button on the next door.

The man who must have been packing things up earlier now panicked as soon as they entered, scrambling to get away and in effect tripping over his own feet, landing on the ground.

"...Fist, I assume," Shepard said dryly. _Damn_. Was it racist that she'd somehow assumed Fist would be a krogan? That's the second time that day she'd made a mistake like that.

"Wait, wait, don't kill me!" He cowered on the ground. "I surrender!"

Shepard pointed her pistol at him.

"Smart move," she said. "Now start talking. What do you know about the quarian?"

Fist fidgeted nervously. "She's not here! Said she'd only deal with the Shadow Broker himself!"

Wrex seemed unimpressed. "No one meets with the Shadow Broker," he said. "Even I was hired through an agent."

Shepard took the safety off her pistol. "We already know all that," she growled.

"He's no use to you," Wrex noticed. "Let me kill him."

Vakarian stared at him. "...I really hope you're joking."

Shepard turned back to glare at both of them. "You two. Shut up!" she ordered, her irritation for a second making her forget that it was a seven-foot-tall turian and a three-hundred-kilo krogan she was shouting at. She turned to Fist. "You'd better start talking, fast."

"Yes! I'll cooperate! Just... please tell your buddy not to shoot me."

She rolled her eyes. _What a weasel._ Resigned, she holstered her gun.

"Now. Talk."

Fist scrambled to get up to his feet.

"Nobody meets the Shadow Broker, ever," he said quickly. "But the quarian didn't know that! I told her I'd set up a meeting. But when she shows up, it'll really be Saren's men waiting for her."

_Son of a bitch!_

"Give me the location!" Shepard grabbed the collar of his shirt, pulling him so close to her face their foreheads were almost touching. "Now!"

"It's the same place as the deal with the Shadow Broker, I swear! Just let me go now, please, don't kill me!"

Shepard pushed him away. "People like you make me sick," she said. What a pathetic coward. "You're not worth my time."

Wrex pulled out his shotgun and fired two rounds at Fist, killing him instantly.

"Gah!" Both Shepard and Garrus were mortified, both of them immediately staring at the krogan with complete shock.

"What are you _doing_ _?!"_ the turian exclaimed. "He'd surrendered!"

"We don't shoot unarmed _prisoners_ _!"_ Shepard grabbed her head, taking a step back. _"Fuck!"_

Wrex holstered his gun. "I was hired to kill him," he said simply. "I don't leave jobs half-done."

Vakarian took a step towards him. "That's _not_ the way!"

"He's right," Shepard said in a tone that she hoped would deescalate any possible conflict. "...But we have more pressing matters at hand."

She pulled up a thermomap on her omnitool and almost cursed when she saw the readings. That many people in Chora's Den could only mean trouble. "Damn it!"

She quickly called her brother, hoping to any god that might exist that he would pick up.

 _"Commander Shepard_ _speaking."_

"David! Listen to me, you have to move fast. That quarian is in danger."

_"We're almost at the rendezvous point. What is it?"_

"It's a long story. What matters is, the people she's meeting with work for _Saren_ , he wants to shut her up, they'll kill her!"

" _She must have evidence that links him to the geth_."

"Then hurry! We'll meet up in Udina's office on the Presidium. For now, I have a bit of a situation here, myself."

_"Roger that. Shepard out."_

"Over and out." She hung up the call.

Wrex was by the door, peeking into the bar. "Seems half the thugs from this side of the Wards are here," he said. "Looks like I'm not the only one who wanted that bastard dead."

Shepard exhaled sharply. That made sense... All this mess didn't make C-Sec look very competent, though. A glance at her turian companion said he was probably thinking the same thing, because he gripped his assault rifle so tightly she could actually _hear_ it.

"Right then," she said, grabbing her own gun. "Let's go."

* * *

David crouched by the wall, watching the exchange between the turian and the quarian.

"Can you hear what they're saying?" Kaidan whispered.

Ashley stared at him. "Does it _matter?!_ That woman is as good as dead if we don't act!"

Shepard silenced them with a wave of his hand.

"We can't just go in guns blazing. It'll alert Saren's men and they'll kill her."

An explosion. The quarian had rigged up some explosives and what had been an exchange deal just seconds before was now an all-out firefight.

Shepard reached for his assault rifle. "Change of plans," he said. "Let's go in guns blazing."

Ashley Williams smiled widely. "Now we're talking."

She grabbed an assault rifle and ran down the stairs with enthusiasm that was, in Shepard's opinion, a bit disconcerting. But she was good, already disarming one of the assassins before he and Kaidan got to the bottom of the stairs, so he took to her vigor kindly.

In the midst of the fighting, Shepard spotted the quarian, under assault from the turian who seemed to be the leader of the group. She could barely lean out of cover without being shot at, but she made up for that with carefully placed tech explosions near her enemies.

Shepard ran towards her, firing several shots at the turian along the way. He grabbed her forearm.

"Come with me," he said and pulled her along without waiting for an answer. "Alenko, I could use a barrier around here!"

A weak biotic field enveloped the two of them, but Shepard wasn't eager to test its durability. He didn't stop running until they had made it safely to a better cover, by the wall next to Kaidan.

The turian threw a grenade in their direction and Shepard barely thought before deciding to jump away. His instincts kicked in and took over.

He swapped his assault rifle for a pistol and fired at the turian repeatedly until he eventually fell dead.

He looked around, assessing the situation, and was glad to see there had been no casualties on his side. Williams and Alenko were just holstering their weapons, while the quarian approached him hesitantly.

"Thank you for that."

Hearing her voice was like a punch to the gut to Shepard—this was a _child_. Oh, that was so wrong.

He reached towards her. "Are you alright?"

"It's not the first time I had to fend for myself. I can handle a fight." Her tone was surprisingly stern, almost as if she was trying to appear more capable than she was. "...Not that I don't appreciate the help," she added quickly. "Because I do. Who—Who _are_ you?"

"Commander Shepard, Systems Alliance Navy. I'm looking for proof that a turian Spectre called Saren is a traitor."

The quarian leaned forward. "Then I may have the chance to repay you for saving my life." She looked around. "But not here. If we want to talk, it should be someplace safe."

"The human embassy," Alenko said. "That's where Commander Shepard wanted to meet up. It should be safe to talk there."

The quarian looked at Kaidan, then back at Shepard.

"...I thought you were Commander Shepard?" She was genuinely confused.

"It's... my sister. Ever since I got a promotion a year ago, we hold both the same military rank and name, people get us confused sometimes, it's really less complicated than it sounds." Shepard massaged his neck nervously. "The point is, she was conducting her own investigation and we agreed to meet in the human ambassador's office."

"Then that's where we should go."

* * *

David did his best to conceal the entirety of his shock upon seeing the people accompanying his sister.

"Well, what do you know, a krogan," he said, slightly uneasy but mostly amazed. _She wasn't joking, then_. His gaze fell on her second companion. "And..."

The turian nodded at him. "Commander. We've met before. Garrus Vakarian." He extended a hand, expecting a handshake, but once he didn't receive it, he awkwardly coughed into his fist, pretending that had been his intention all along. "I was the officer with Nihlus Kryik in Citadel Tower."

"I remember," Shepard said curtly. "Thank you for helping with this investigation."

Cassidy pressed the door control button. "Let's get on with it, then."

As the unlikely group made their way into Udina's office, David managed to get close to his sister.

"A turian and a krogan? _"_ he whispered.

"I'm just as surprised as you," she whispered back. "But they've actually been cooperative." She looked up. "Come on. Time's wasting."

Arm in arm, they walked into the room.

"Shepard!" Not unlike usually, Ambassador Udina was pissed off. "Care to explain yourself?!" He glared at David Shepard in a way that would have made most politicians squirm but made little impression on a soldier. "Walking out on the Council?! Dragging a half-dead quarian like some kind of stray dog through half of the Presidium?!" He pointed a finger at Cassidy. "And _you!_ Firefights in the Wards?! An all-out assault on Chora's Den?!" He threw his hands in the air, exasperated. "You two will cost me everything I—" He stopped, finally taking notice of the strange crowd that had gathered in his office. He glared at David. "You brought the quarian _here?!"_

"The quarian has a name," the quarian in question said, her voice sharp. "And if you call her a stray dog again, she also has a shotgun."

Cassidy decided to go out on a limb and like that girl.

"I'm sure the Ambassador didn't mean any offense." Anderson swooped in, almost desperately trying to fix the situation. "Why don't you start from the beginning, Miss...?"

"My name is Tali," she introduced herself quickly. "Tali'Zorah nar Rayya. And thank you. I think that would be best."

Udina leveled a glare at the Shepards, but controlled his emotions.

"We, uh... Don't see many quarians on the Citadel," he said with dry politeness. "Why did you leave the flotilla?"

"I was on my Pilgrimage," she explained. "It's my people's rite of passage into adulthood, a way of proving oneself to be useful and able to contribute to society." The way she looked around, that explanation was probably for the humans' sake. "Either way. During my travels, I began hearing reports of the geth being sighted in Citadel space." She paused. "...Obviously, I was intrigued."

"Obviously," Wrex repeated dryly.

"The geth haven't ventured beyond the Veil since they drove my people into exile," Tali was defensive now. "I figured it was an opportunity... Also, I was curious. So, I..." She hesitated.

"It's alright," Anderson sent her a friendly smile. "We're on the same side here. Go on."

"Well... I followed a geth patrol to an uncharted world and waited until one became separated from its unit. I managed to disable it and extract a small part from its memory core."

"I thought the geth fried their memory cores when they die," David noticed.

"They do. But if you're skilled enough and lucky enough, you might save something. My people created the geth, so the hardware wasn't anything new to me. Well... Either way, the file I managed to extract wasn't part of a report as I'd expected, but an audio file. It must have been one of the last things that unit had heard."

She brought up her omnitool, searching for the file for a short moment. The room was filled with a silence that was almost tensed, everyone waiting for what came next.

"Here," Tali said. She pressed play.

_"Eden Prime was a major victory. That beacon brought us one step closer to finding the Conduit."_

_"And one step closer to the return of the Reapers."_

"That first voice, that's Saren!" Garrus exclaimed. "Yes! I've got him!" He looked around bashfully. "...I mean... _We_ 've got him." He cleared his throat. "I, uh... Carry on. Don't... mind me."

David looked at Cassidy in a way that said _I understand now._

"We have undeniable proof now," he said. "But who's that woman on the recording? Talking about Reapers?"

"I don't recognize the voice..." Udina stroked his chin. "Anderson?"

"Not a clue."

"What... what _are_ Reapers?" Cassidy asked timidly. "I feel like I've heard the name before, but I can't put my finger on it."

"According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced race of machines that existed over fifty thousand years ago. Allegedly, they hunted the Protheans to total extinction and then vanished... At least, that's what the geth believe. They revere the Reapers, consider them to be the pinnacle of synthetic life."

"The geth are religious?" Wrex sounded like he was about to burst into laughter. "That's a new one."

"But if Saren poses himself as a... _prophet_ of the Reapers, the catalyst of their return..." Tali tapped her helmet absently. "That would explain why they follow him."

"The Council is going to love this," David said sarcastically. "But now they have to believe us about Saren."

"That's right." Udina nodded his head. "I'll go ahead and arrange a meeting." He looked around. "Where's Nihlus? He's going to want to know this."

"I can find him," Cassidy offered. "I think I know where to look."

"Commander Shepard?" Tali'Zorah stepped forward. "I know I'm not Alliance, but can I come with you? I think I might be helpful."

"What about your Pilgrimage?" David sounded genuinely concerned, which caught his sister by surprise.

"The Pilgrimage is about proving your worth, showing that you can give of yourself for the collective good. What does it say about me if I turn my back on this?!" She crossed her arms. "No, this is bigger than me or my quest. As a quarian, I can't turn my back on a geth threat! Commander, you've seen me in that alley. You know what I can do." She took another step in his direction. "Let me come with you."

"Are you sure you're ready...?" David hesitated. "It's bound to be dangerous..."

"If Saren's half as dangerous as Nihlus says he is, we're going need all the help we can get," Cassidy said firmly. David wrinkled his nose. He was less than happy with letting a child fight this battle, but his sister had a point.

"Right then." He nodded. "Welcome to the team, Tali'Zorah."

Anderson glanced at the time on his omnitool. "Let's meet at Citadel Tower in fifteen," he said. "And until then, uh..." His gaze fell on Urdnot Wrex and Garrus Vakarian, and it was clear he was trying to put his thoughts into words. "Let's decide who stays and who goes."

Cassidy nodded. "Understood."

David Shepard watched, slightly uncomfortable, as that very strange array of people left the room one by one, the last few being Alenko, Vakarian and himself.

"Hold up," Shepard said, keeping the turian inside the room. "Vakarian, right?"

"And you're... Shepard, right?" That was either a joke or an insult, and right now, David didn't care for either.

He narrowed his brows. He knew his anger was probably misplaced right now, that it had been a long day, but... things still didn't add up. And all things aside, Shepard liked to know what he stood on.

"What's your deal?" He asked simply.

"I don't understand."

"You're a turian. Why are you helping us bring down Saren? What do you hope to get out of it?"

"Not all turians despise humanity," Vakarian said defensively—a perfect repetition of Nihlus's words from the day before. Only he wasn't as good as keeping his cool as the Spectre. "What I "want" is to see justice served—Saren is a traitor to the Council and a disgrace to my people! I don't care for your tone, Commander. You don't trust me? Then don't. That's your issue. But let me come with you. Because honestly? You could use all the help you can get."

"You've made your case." Shepard waved a hand, trying not to show just how much that last part had bothered him. Using his own words against him. He stepped away from the door, allowing passage again. "Just don't get in the way. I don't trust your kind, turian."


	4. Bigger Ideas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nothing out of canon here. The Council chooses a human Spectre. The twins find themselves in new situations career-wise. Cassidy and Garrus develop... well, SOME sort of connection. Kaidan is cute. Nihlus is amazing. Just stuff.

"What do you think is going to happen now?" Cassidy Shepard was pacing nervously around the waiting space of the vast room, while the others simply followed her with their eyes.

"Does she do this often?" Garrus Vakarian asked, looking at her with barely concealed confusion.

Ashley, to whom the question was directed, slowly shook her head. "I wouldn't know. I barely know the Commander."

"...She doesn't," Kaidan muttered under his breath.

Shepard stopped.

"Why aren't you more concerned about this?" She looked at them, feeling powerless and angry that they weren't too. "I hate that I can't do anything."

"It probably wouldn't help," Williams noticed. "Last time we appealed to the Council, they dismissed all of our claims."

"That's exactly what I'm worried about."

"It's already crowded in there. With all due respect, perhaps it's better if you sit this one out, ma'am."

"...Shut up."

Shepard sat down, arms crossed, on the empty seat between Wrex and Kaidan. "I don't like this. At all."

* * *

Shepard absently thought that throwing all those accusations left and right wasn't making them look good in the Council's eyes as he scaled the large stairway that led to the Council's audience chamber. If anything, this whole thing was going to blow wide open if this meeting was just as futile as the one before.

He didn't think when the quarian tripped over a step, immediately grabbing her arm to hold her up.

"Thank you," she mumbled.

"You don't need to be nervous," he said in a low voice that echoed in the vast hall nonetheless. "We have hard evidence and all Saren's got is lies."

"I'm... just a little intimidated. My people don't even have an embassy here anymore. And the Council—"

"—will listen," Anderson said firmly. "They have to."

"Amen to that." Shepard barely registered he said the words. This was stupid—why should he be nervous? He was a soldier, it wasn't his job to be bothered by politics. (It would probably be easier if the Council could be reasonable.)

The thing was, he thought with some bitterness, that he still wasn't used to the idea of his actions reflecting on all of humanity.

He knit his eyebrows. _It should be Cassidy up here, not me._ She was far better suited for all these dealings with alien races than he—but chance had put them in this situation, in these roles - him in the spotlight and her on the sidelines... Exactly the opposite of what they both were used to.

There was no way this could end well, David decided bitterly.

"I'm sorry I'm late!"

Shepard turned back, surprised to see the turian purposefully walking towards them.

"Nihlus?"

"I wasn't going to miss this, Shepard, not for the life of me." His voice almost turned into a growl. "Saren has to pay."

Shepard wrinkled his forehead. He was aware how high the pressure put on honor in turian society was, and now he was starting to get slightly concerned about his Spectre colleague. Nihlus still hadn't forgiven himself for letting Cassidy get hurt while she was under his command—not any more than David had forgiven himself for what had happened to Jenkins. Nihlus was probably too close to this and as much as David believed that all turians were born with a stick up their ass, even he had to admit Nihlus was beginning to let his emotions cloud his judgement.

But he was still glad to have Nihlus by his side at the moment. Not just because he was a Spectre, but also because he was a turian. As far as race came into play, the rest of them—three humans and a quarian—weren't going to earn much sympathy from the Council.

None of the Councillors looked happy with this ordeal, but at least the salarian tried to greet them in a more or less civilized way.

"Officer Kryik, Captain Anderson, Ambassador Udina, and... Oh, a quarian. How... nice."

Shepard put a hand on Tali's forearm, holding her back from an outburst he knew was sure to come.

"You asked to see evidence of Saren's treason," he said, trying to keep his calm this time like Anderson had told him to. "She has it."

"Ah. Commander Shepard. I didn't think we would see you again after the way you left the last meeting." By far, the turian Councillor was the least objective of them all. He seemed to enjoy putting others down—or at least that was the impression David got of him. It was kind of hard to consider turians a friendly race when _that_ was their representative.

"And yet here I am," Shepard said through gritted teeth.

This time it was Tali's turn to hold _him_ back. She did it so discreetly he wasn't even sure it had happened. It was almost as if she were afraid that if she moved too abruptly, she'd be noticed.

"Shepard." Nihlus sent him a warning look.

Shepard shuddered; he'd forgotten just how scary turians could be. Then again, he'd never seen that Saren person. Cassidy had, and she'd described him as the most intimidating person she knew. Suddenly he felt a new wave of respect for her managing to recruit that turian cop less than a day after that particularly traumatic experience.

He blinked, surprised to realize he had drifted away from the mind-numbingly boring politics of the present. Nihlus and Udina were presenting the quarian's evidence to the Council.

_"Eden Prime was a major victory. That beacon brought us one step closer to finding the Conduit."_

_"And one step closer to the return of the Reapers."_

"Well, then. There you have it." Udina was clearly just barely restricting himself from some more rude comment. "You wanted proof and this is it."

The Councillors exchanged worried looks.

"...He _is_ right," the salarian said slowly. "I was hoping this was some misunderstanding."

"Saren's betrayal isn't something to take lightly," the asari Councillor agreed. "He's the best of the best... What do you propose we do?"

"May I?" Nihlus looked up. "First and foremost, Saren must be stripped of his Spectre status. That should go without saying."

"Agreed." The asari brought up the form on their holoscreens.

"...With great pain, but agreed." The turian Councillor was the last to make the vote, his hand hovering over the button for a few seconds before eventually pressing it. "Whatever monstrosities Saren Arterius has done, be certain—it is _not_ of this Council's volition."

The asari Councillor looked at Tali.

"Young lady. If you could be so kind as to play that recording again?"

"Of—of course." The quarian sounded actually surprised someone as high up as a member of the Council addressed her straightforwardly.

_"Eden Prime was a major victory. That beacon brought us one step closer to finding the Conduit."_

_"And one step closer to the return of the Reapers."_

"...I knew I'd heard that voice before. The woman on the recording with Saren... That's Matriarch Benezia, a powerful asari biotic. If she's allied herself with Saren, he's even more dangerous than we imagined."

"That's true, but... _Reapers_?" The turian clicked his mandibles, deep in thought. "I never would have thought Saren so foolish as to believe such nonsense."

"We think he might be using the idea of "Reapers" to trick the geth into working for him," Anderson explained. "They revere the Reapers as gods."

"That's a fair assumption."

"The next order of business should be the matter of how to deal with him," Shepard said. "The geth are dangerous, and with Saren leading them, they're a threat to every human colony out there!"

He hadn't even noticed when his voice had started to rise again.

"You've made your case, Commander." The asari Councillor silenced him with a gesture. "We all agree that Saren is dangerous and action must be taken, but _this_ is still a human problem. Saren no longer has the resources or priviledges of a Spectre, he's just a rogue agent on the run for his life."

"You should send your fleet in, then!" Udina clenched his fists. "If it's like you say, then apprehending one rogue agent shouldn't be a problem for Council forces!"

"Right now, Saren operates on the border of the Terminus Systems. Sending out an armed force there could have... unwanted consequences."

"But you can't just do nothing!" Shepard stared at her, unbelieving his ears. "People have _died_ _!_ You wouldn't be this passive if it were a turian colony that was attacked!"

"The turians know how to defend their colonies, Commander. They also know better than to establish farming outposts on the edge of the Terminus Systems."

"This has got to be a joke. There has to be _something_ you can do!"

A silence fell in the room. Shepard wondered if he had gone too far again, but he didn't regret his words nonetheless. Someone had to step up, and if it wasn't him, then...

"Send me."

All eyes fell on Nihlus as soon as he spoke, his words earning surprise of a different kind from every person in the room.

He stepped forward.

"Eden Prime may be a human problem, but Saren's actions will reflect on all of turiankind. I cannot stand idly by while he destroys the good name of our people! Send me in." He looked around. "I'm a Spectre—I can operate in places normal Council forces cannot. And a small ship with a minimal crew isn't going to attract attention." Nihlus's mandibles twitched slightly as he spoke, but his voice never faltered. "It's the best choice."

The Councillors looked at one another.

"...That _is_ acceptable," the salarian said hesitantly. "But can you truly stay impartial?"

"Excuse me?"

"Everyone knows of your relationship with Saren. He was your mentor and a close friend. With all due respect, Officer, your emotions might be clouding your judgment."

"That's not what it is!" Anderson clenched his fists. "He's the only one around here willing to do the right thing!"

The turian Councillor shook his head. "Captain Anderson. Speaking of overemotional responses. You always seem to be involved whenever Saren is in question. Honestly, you have no more to say here than Officer Kryik does."

Shepard gritted his teeth, mad to the bone. How dare they? How could they be so stupid? And he had almost believed that maybe _some_ aliens would be willing help humanity out... But apparently Nihlus was just an exception. And now he, too, was being pushed to the sidelines.

Saren had it all planned out, didn't he? He had known how this would go down. He knew he was safe because he knew the Council would never agree to send one of their Spectres so far into the Traverse. He knew he could get away with everything as long as he didn't move against the Council races directly.

David wanted to scream. _Can't you see this is exactly what he wants?! Can't you see you're playing his game?!_

He sent Nihlus a desperate look, turning to the only possible ally in the room. He had already failed on Eden Prime, he had already gotten one of his soldiers killed... If he had to ask a turian for help in order to fix that, then he was ready to do it!

"...There's another way." Nihlus looked at Shepard, almost evaluating him. He spoke slowly, weighing every word carefully. "If you're so insistent this is a human problem, send a human."

"Kryik—"

"I've seen Shepard in action. He's capable, intelligent, and resourceful. You asked me to evaluate him—and I'm aware there was no time to do it properly—but I believe he's ready."

"No!" The turian Councillor slammed his hands on the podium. "Humanity isn't ready for the responsibility of joining the Spectres."

"I don't give a damn about _humanity!_ We're only talking about _one_ human. If that's how we're going to screen our agents, we're going against everything this Council stands for." He crossed his arms, looking at David with something that by turian standards was probably a smile. "I don't care if you're human, krogan, or turian, Shepard. I only care if you get the job done." Turning back to the Council, "Which he does. And that's all that should matter."

"Well?" Shepard figured after that speech from Nihlus, he could afford to be a little cocky. "What will it be?"

A long, heavy silence fell in the room.

* * *

"Commander. You should come see this."

Cassidy looked up, surprised to see the turian extending his hand to help her stand up.

She swatted his hand away, instead getting up on her own.

"What is it, Vakarian?"

"The Council's made their decision." He pretended he didn't notice the way she'd just shot down his attempt to be friendly. "I figured you might want to be there."

She followed him down the hall, nodding at Williams, Wrex and Alenko to come along as they passed them.

"What did they do?" She asked, all business now. As a soldier, Shepard was always calm and collected, even if her personal feelings were a raging tempest at the moment. (Which they weren't, surprisingly.) It had helped her achieve N7 designation at such a young age, and generally helped when people tried to underestimate her because of her age, gender, or stature. "Should I be worried?"

"I don't think so," Vakarian answered without missing a beat. She had to almost jog to keep up with the pace the turian had set. "You humans are very easy to read. Your commanding officer looked pleased."

Cassidy nodded, taking a mental note that turians apparently had much less trouble understanding human facial cues than the other way around. That felt like something she should keep in mind.

"Do you think we should wait outside?"

Kaidan looked at the turian, slightly amused to see the C-Sec officer acting this way.

"Are you... nervous?" he asked, stifling a laugh.

"Very few people get to come here," Vakarian answered nervously. "Even fewer get to attend a meeting of the Council. This is a... big honor."

Shepard rolled her eyes, torn between telling them to cut the chatter and staying silent in respect of the gravity of the situation.

"We're not _going_ to meet the Council," she said eventually.

One thing that kind of worried her but she decided to ignore for now was that that turian (and the krogan too, for that matter) continued to stick around for some reason. She had never been one to seek out confrontation, so she silently hoped the situation would resolve itself somehow.

"See, here comes my brother now." She put on a formal smile, seeing that David was still accompanied by Ambassador Udina and that quarian, Tali.

She couldn't begin to try to read into the body language of the quarian, but David didn't look very happy.

He noticed her across the room and excused himself with a gesture. Cassidy took long, deliberate strides, set to meet him in the middle.

"Did they listen?" She asked, keeping her voice low to avoid it echoing in the entire chamber.

"They had to. We were spoon-feeding them the evidence back there." He crossed his arms as he sent the others an askew look. "But they're idiots. They're not going to do anything about Saren unless he enters Council space."

"They're just doing their job," Cassidy noticed. "You can't expect more."

"Maybe you're right." He sighed. "But they wouldn't even let Nihlus intervene—or Captain Anderson."

"But they did _something,_ right?" She clenched her fists. "It wasn't all for nothing?" She paused to take a moment to study his expression. The strange mix of guilt and fear was something that wasn't seen on David Shepard's face that often. In that moment, she began to understand. "You," she realized.

A short, uncertain silence filled the air between them.

"So... That's it." He spread his arms. "I'm a Spectre."

Cassidy offered him a small smile.

"How do you feel?"

David glanced around. "I don't know. The same? Nervous? There's definitely some pressure. It's like everyone is looking to me now..." He paused. "Wait. Is this how _you_ feel all the time?"

She shook her head, amused. "More or less."

"That's... terrifying." He massaged the back of his neck, more out of habit than anything else.

"Shepard!"

The twins turned back in an instant. With a gesture, Nihlus called David over to where he was standing with Anderson.

David sent Cassidy a look, but if he had been intending to say anything, he decided otherwise.

"So? Did they listen?" Ashley Williams asked once Shepard rejoined the group.

She hesitated before answering. "We have a human Spectre," she said eventually. "The Council was—"

"Shepard." Ambassador Udina had the same expression he always did; one of slightly prudish annoyment. "I already said this to your brother, but he's leaving first thing tomorrow. Say your goodbyes if you have to while I try to find a ship with a captain crazy enough to take part in this." He wrinkled his nose, sending a particularly heavy look at the krogan and turian. "And take these people out of here! You're crowding the room."

He angrily marched away and Shepard didn't know if he was pissed today or if that was just the way he walked.

"I thought your ambassador would be more grateful," Vakarian noticed. She caught a hint of confusion in his voice. "He didn't even thank them."

Alenko shrugged. "What else did you expect from a politician?"

Cassidy pursed her lips, silently agreeing with the Lieutenant.

"Come on," she said. "We'd better clear out." She hated admitting someone as repulsive as Udina was right, but a crowd of three Alliance soldiers, a krogan, and a turian was sure to attract attention. "And we _probably_ shouldn't move as a group."

"That's fine." Kaidan smiled politely. "I don't think there's anything left to do here either way. With permission, ma'am, I think I'll go back to the Normandy now."

"Go on," Shepard said. She looked around. "Actually, you're _all_ dismissed."

She smiled sadly as she made her way to the other side of the room where she could take a look on the Presidium below. That Spectre job had just gone straight over her head, hadn't it?

"Commander?"

"Yes?!" She had to pretend she didn't just have a heart attack. "...Yes? What is it, Vakarian?"

For the first time in her life, she was developing an urge to sock a turian in the face. _What's so hard to understand about the word dismissed?_

"I gather there's going to be some kind of manhunt for Saren, am I right?"

"I guess so."

"So if you're still, maybe, looking for a sniper for your team—"

 _"I_ am a sniper," she said, an eyebrow raised.

"Oh." He seemed fairly let down. "Well. In that case... I... I swear, I'm not going to be any trouble! I'll follow orders without question—And I don't take up much space. I—"

Cassidy almost laughed out loud at how desperately he tried to be a part of this.

"I don't decide who makes the team, Vakarian," she said. "Sorry."

"Oh." He looked away. "Still, I'd like to be on it. I'm actually free now, I just quit my job and—"

"You quit from C-Sec? Why?"

"...Because they made me."

"So you were fired." Shepard put a hand on her hip, amused.

"Does the terminology really matter?" He paused. "...Fine. When we first met? And I said I was looking into Saren? That... wasn't exactly the truth."

"What _were_ you doing there?" Shepard's voice took on a sharper tone. Her hand went to the pistol in her shoulder holster, ready to shoot the turian if he displayed any ill intention.

"I _was_ investigating Saren." It was hard for Shepard to tell if he was staying calm because he was C-Sec or just kept cool as a rule. Surely he knew she was armed. "That part was true. But... my superior may have ordered me to drop that case earlier."

"So you're not only an idiot, you're also a rogue." Shepard sighed. Her hand left the pistol. She didn't like that kind of people, those who thought the end justified the means. It was part of why she wanted to be a Spectre: she'd been hoping to show the rest of those idiot renegades that you could get things done without breaking the rules. "Don't worry, I'm not going to turn you in." She waved her hand. "I owe you for having my back back there."

She hung her head, leaning slightly forward.

"We've... kind of struck out, haven't we?" She chuckled softly. "I'm sorry I can't help you. But it looks like we'll _both_ be staying on the Citadel for a while."

"...Dammit. I really thought this could be it." He groaned - a low-pitched, miserable sound. "I hate the idea of Saren still at large."

"God knows so do I, but there's little either of us can do about it. This is David's show now and I just... I have to trust in him to handle it." She sighed, looking out over the lake on the Presidium below. "You know, I'm off-duty now. I could use a drinking buddy if you're up for it."

Drinking buddy. _Some random turian cop I've only known for a few hours. Afer all the crazy things that happened? Sounds about right._

Vakarian scratched his cheek. "Not at Chora's Den, I hope."

"God, no." She leaned away from the balcony. "There are other bars around here."

"Hah. If you're feeling lucky, we could visit the casino over at Flux."

Shepard shook her head, amused. "I... don't think they'll be letting me anywhere near those games again anytime soon."

"Just drinks it is, then." Garrus put a hand on his hip.

"Just drinks," Shepard agreed, already heading out the door.

"But... keep in mind, I _did_ just lose my job, so you, um, might have to pay."

"Sure. It's not like I'm on a low Alliance salary and you're practically a stranger."

"Charming."

"Aren't I?"

* * *

David didn't know how he was feeling. One second he had been just Commander Shepard, regular Alliance officer, brother of _the_ Commander Shepard. The next second he was suddenly a Spectre, the only human Spectre in history, an agent of the Council and apparently a poster child of humanity. He hadn't had many occasions to be in the spotlight before, but so far he had a feeling he wasn't going to like it.

It had also taken him incredibly long to track down his sister in this bar/club in the Wards, which kind of got on his already weakened nerves too.

"Cassidy. We need to talk." His gaze fell upon the turian. "Oh. _You_ 're still here."

Vakarian pushed his chair away from the table. "I'll be leaving," he said quickly—and immediately walked away, just as quickly.

"You scared him off," Cassidy chastised.

David shook his head, taking the place on the other end of the table.

"You can add it to your list of dates I've ruined," he sighed.

"This was _not_ a date." She glared at him. "And, thanks to you, never will be." She put her hands together. "Doesn't matter. I don't have time for dating anyway. What did you want to talk about?"

David sighed once more. This was not a conversation he wanted to have, but his stupid conscience wasn't giving him any peace.

He reached for the half-empty glass of liquor that still stood on the table.

"I wouldn't if I were you," Cassidy said urgently, her hand grabbing his wrist before he managed to ever get a grip on the glass. "That's the dextro liquor Vakarian was drinking."

"...Right." David was only slightly moved by the whole situation, but he silently accepted the bottle of beer she passed him. "Thanks." He took a big swig. The drink wasn't nearly as cold as he would have wanted it to be.

"Alright. Now talk. What's on your mind?"

"About today. I know how much this job would have meant for you. I'm never going to appreciate it as much as you would have... I guess what I'm trying to say is I'm sorry. As much as I wanted to be the first human Spectre, I didn't want to be a Spectre."

Cassidy raised an eyebrow at that last part. "You're gonna have to start making a lot more sense than that."

"What I mean is... I was rewarded for something that wasn't outstanding. Not next to what you've been through. You've got your Elysium and I... had my Akuze." Even now, that name brought a cold shiver down his spine. "We _both_ defied the odds, not just me. And we're _both_ capable officers, not just me. You earned your place on that podium just as much as I did. Hell, maybe even more..." He took in a deep breath. "You're a good soldier, Cassidy, and I'm proud to call you my sister. I'm sorry things didn't work out the way you wanted."

"Thanks. It's nice to be appreciated." Cassidy glared at her drink with little enthusiasm. "Would have preferred to be appreciated by the Council, of course, but my brother will do."

"Hey. The first human Spectre."

"That _does_ make it sound better," she admitted. A small smile broke across her features. "And where there's a first, there can always be a second. It's not like it's a closed road for me."

David put his elbow on the table. He looked at her for a longer moment, trying to read the motivations that moved her.

"...Why do you want that so much?" he asked. "I don't think being a Spectre could be that different from any other special forces job."

"I don't..." She shrugged, staring at the bottlecap she was idly playing with. "I don't know. It's just... My job as an N7 took me all over Council space, you know?"

David nodded, even though she wasn't really looking at him.

"And wherever I went, those aliens were always... Don't get me wrong, everyone's perfectly polite when you're working together, but they're still... so alien. The aliens. And I've always gotten the idea that everyone looks down on humanity. Like we're less capable or just plain stupid..." She sighed. "I guess when I heard they were thinking of having a human Spectre, it was like finally there was a chance for us to show that we're just as tough and capable as any krogan or asari out there. Finally. And when Nihlus said it could be me? Yeah, I got excited. Anyone would."

"But then they went and gave _me_ the job," David summed up bitterly. "That's gotta sting."

"I don't _blame_ you. I blame that turian, Saren." She leaned back in the chair. "And you, a little bit."

"I think I'm going to turn in for the night." David fought with himself to stifle a yawn. His eyes were practically closing. "We're placed at a hotel down in the Presidium. Here. Yours is room 209." He fished the keycard out of his pocket and threw it to her. "I'm just next door if you need anything."

"You do look a little worn down," Cassidy noticed.

"It's been a long day... Oh hell. The longest one, probably."

"It sure has been." She pursed her lips. "Eden Prime was just yesterday? Feels like months. And at the same time..."

"...like it just happened seconds ago."

Cassidy looked up at her brother, shocked at him reading her thoughts so accurately.

"Exactly," she whispered. There was a moment of silence. "Do you still think of that... vision you saw?"

"I think about it all the time." He massaged his temples. "It's almost like it's burned into my brain... At least I don't see it when I'm blinking anymore."

"What do you think it is? A warning? A threat? A prophecy?"

"Honestly, Cassidy, I don't know. I thought it could be psychic like you said... But I really don't know." He shut his eyes. "Can we please not talk about this anymore?"

"Of course." She looked at him. "We can talk about anything you want. Or we can not talk at all and you can just go get some rest. Whatever you want. It's _your_ big day, after all."

David massaged his neck nervously. This was getting too much. He was used to standing on the sidelines. In the spotlight? He didn't really know what to do.

"Are you okay?" Cassidy narrowed her eyebrows, her emerald green eyes sparkling with poorly-hidden concern.

"...I should go," he said, already getting up and leaving. He didn't want to talk anymore. He wasn't actually sure he was even in the right state of mind for that right now.

 _I really don't know._ What a bald-faced lie. And to his own sister, no less! He knew. He didn't know _how_ , but he knew it. He felt it with every fiber of his being.

It wasn't a vision. It was a memory.

He'd seen the Protheans being wiped out by the Reapers.


	5. Say What You Say

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to the SSV Normandy kids

Shepard groaned, rolling over and pressing the pillow over her head, but none of that made the irritating alarm clock shut up.

 _What time_ is _it, anyway?_ She narrowed her eyes, bringing up her omnitool with a lazy tap.

Six-thirty. _Damn_. David was leaving in less than two hours.

She turned off the alarm and reluctantly rolled off the bed.

She walked to the bathroom and stared at her reflection in the mirror. You almost couldn't tell she had spent a good part of the night in a bar. She smiled and the red-headed woman in the mirror smiled too.

The woman didn't look as tired as Shepard was feeling. There was some strength in her features, a sharpness characteristic for those accustomed to armed combat. Her cheeks and forehead were dotted in freckles, a result of countless days spent at bootcamp or training grounds, in the open air under the sun. Her nose was upturned, more so than David's, and her lips weren't exactly full or symmetrical, but she couldn't care for that. She wasn't what most would consider a beauty, but Shepard liked the way she looked. She wasn't plain.

She turned on the faucet and splashed her face with cold water. Now that there were droplets sitting on them, her eyelashes seemed even thicker and longer than usual. She smirked. _No makeup._ She had actually never gotten around to wearing makeup, and as it turned out there was no need.

She threw her head back, flame-red hair falling back down her muscular shoulders. She reached as high up as she could, stretching her body to the limits. Her muscles were the one part of her physical appearance she actually cared about—maybe because unlike her facial features, she'd actually had to work for those. Her body was toned and strong because she had made it so. It was something she had earned. That four-pack wouldn't be there without the countless hours of situps, crunches, and planking she had spent.

Quickly brushing her teeth, Shepard tapped on her omnitool to check her mail inbox.

There was a forwarded link to an article about the attack on Eden Prime (which she decided to ignore), and an official Alliance briefing.

Mildly curious, Shepard opened the latter.

She quickly read the whole thing, scanning the message for the most important information. She had been offered a salary increase, as well as a field transfer to...

She had to reread the sentence a few times, and even then she still wasn't sure if there hadn't been a mistake. _This can't be right._

She didn't have time to get used to that new information, because the vidcom in the room pinged with an upcoming call.

Shepard threw on her uniform faster than she usually would, in the meantime checking if the call was meant for her. Oh, it most definitely was.

She pressed the answer button, waiting until the hologram of the Alliance Navy Admiral formed fully.

She smiled widely, doing her best to fight off the deeply-rooted reflex to salute a senior officer.

"Hi, mom."

"Hi, honey." Her smile was returned with the same enthusiasm. "It's good to see your face. Especially after everything. I... heard you were shot?"

"It's nothing." She rolled her shoulder. It didn't hurt. "Bullet went right through. I barely feel it anymore."

"You really ought to be more careful, Cassie." Admiral Shepard frowned, her eyebrows furrowing slightly as she did so.

"I know, ma'am."

"So I hear you're on the Citadel. That's very high-profile, Cassie. I'm proud of you. _Both_ of you."

"You heard?"

"Everyone heard. Joining the Spectres is a big step for humanity. Listen, I can't get a hold of David, but can you let him know I watched the ceremony online?"

"Of course. And mom..."

"Yes? What is it?"

"Did you know about the mission on Eden Prime?"

"Eden Prime? So that's where you went?" Hannah shook her head. "No, Cassie, I didn't know. David Anderson told me you were shot in the line of duty, but that's all. I understand it's classified, so I didn't pry."

"Oh." Shepard nodded. "...Right then. Well... Thanks for calling."

"Anytime. Tell David I love him."

"Will do. Bye, mom."

"Goodbye, Cassie."

The hologram fizzled out into the air.

* * *

David Shepard took a deep breath.

"This is not what I imagined when I heard _small-crew ship_ ," he said, staring at the small spaceship barely bigger than a skycar. "...This is a fighter."

"It doesn't _need_ a crew. That's why it's the perfect ship for a Spectre."

Shepard opened his mouth. "I would ask if you're joking, but you people don't get jokes."

Nihlus crossed his arms. "That's racist. And hurtful." He looked at the ship. "But I'm not joking. Yeah, it has a small tank, but the Mantis is faster than it looks. It even makes relay jumps like a freighter."

"I can't drive this," Shepard said. "I never learned how to drive a _car_ , let alone a spaceship."

"Oh no, you're getting it wrong. I'm not giving you my ship. There are some things a man doesn't share." Nihlus leaned on the fighter's side. "No, this is just where we part ways... For now."

"The Council let you go after Saren?" Shepard was surprised, to say the least.

"Honestly, Shepard, I don't care anymore. They're wrong and you're right, so yeah. I _am_ going to follow your lead here."

David battled with himself. Part of his brain was aware that the turian was not an enemy, but his body didn't seem to know that just yet. He didn't _trust_ Nihlus, not just yet, but damn it, he actually liked him. But Nihlus was a turian. He wasn't going to be able to trick himself into being comfortable with a turian around.

"If you're going after Saren anyway," he said out of politeness, "why don't you tag along on my ship? There's bound to be plenty of space."

Nihlus slowly shook his head.

"I move faster on my own," he said, looking off into the distance. "Besides... I know him better than anyone else."

"Nihlus, are you alright?"

"Of course I am. What do you mean?"

David exhaled slowly. "I know you and Saren were close. I'd understand it if going on this mission were difficult for you or—"

Nihlus raised a finger. "Shepard, let me stop you right there." He sighed. "Turians don't— We're not— We... don't make a habit of talking about our emotions. Leave _that_ to your asari or your humans. Me? If there's something troubling me, I'd rather act on it than talk about it."

Shepard nodded. He was kind of relieved, actually: having lived aboard Alliance starships most of his life, he didn't really have a knack for talking about emotions. Just like any other soldier, he preferred to have his actions speak for himself. At least on that matter, he could agree with the turians.

"When will we see each other again?" He eyed the small fighter uncertainly. He didn't know if that was the best ship for a long-distance journey. "...Where will you go now?"

"I don't know, Shepard, where will _you?"_ Nihlus sighed. "Saren's as good as gone. There's no point in looking for him now, we'll never be able to track him down. I know him and believe me, he's smarter than that. He'll keep low if he has to."

"You're not making me feel better about this," David said flatly.

"It's like I said, expecting the worst usually pays off." The turian turned his head when a skycar flew above them. "We don't really have many leads here, Shepard. I looked into that asari on the recording, Matriarch Benezia? Just as elusive as Saren. But..." He tapped on his omnitool, bringing up a public identity card for a Dr. Liara T'Soni. "She has a daughter."

David glanced at the picture.

"She's pretty," he noticed. He wasn't even interested—it was just an idle observation.

"She's also an expert on the Protheans. That and connections to Benezia puts her in a very suspicious light." Nihlus turned off his omnitool. "But she's not as difficult to track down. I figured one of us should try to bring her in, see if any new leads open up." He smiled, showing off rows of perfectly sharp teeth. "By the way, you should probably be going now. I heard your Alliance had a ship docked for you in Docking Bay C."

Shepard nodded. "Thanks, Nihlus." He raised his hand to salute, but hesitated, not sure if that was appropriate. "Take care."

"You too." Nihlus put a hand on his hip. "Good hunting, Commander Shepard."

Not wanting to waste more time, David turned around, leaving the turian alone. Docking Bay C was one of the ones near the C-Sec Academy, right? He tapped on his omnitool to bring up the map of this ward (and made a mental note to thank Kaidan Alenko later). Right.

He spotted Captain Anderson and—much to his dismay—Ambassador Udina even from afar, as they stood out among the mechanics and warehouse workers bustling about among the ships.

Shepard tried to look critically at the spaceship they had chosen for him, but that was kind of difficult (especially just after seeing what Nihlus was traveling in) because what they had chosen was the best ship he had ever laid eyes upon. Surprisingly familiar, too.

"Ah, Shepard. Here." Udina called him over with a nod of his head. "Good to see you've made it on time... barely."

Shepard clenched his fists but didn't respond to that. He turned to Anderson. "Sir." He saluted.

"No, Shepard, don't bother," Anderson waved a hand. "As you're now a Spectre, you are beyond the jurisdiction of the Systems Alliance. You answer only to the Council."

David nodded. It was liberating and frightening at the same time.

"You've been given full access to the Normandy, too." Udina didn't look very pleased with that.

"It's the most befitting aircraft for someone of your station, after all. And you already know the crew." Anderson shook his hand. "It's a good ship. May she serve you well... Spectre."

Shepard raised an eyebrow. "That almost sounds like you're not going with me."

"That's because I'm not. The Council thought I might be too close to this, given my history with Saren. They're probably right, too... So, they're making me sit this one out." He tried to force a smile on his face. "But don't worry, Shepard, I trust you'll get along well with the Alliance officer chosen as the Normandy's new captain."

"That's not me?" He was just slightly surprised.

"Not possible. As I said, you're beyond Alliance jurisdiction—but the Normandy is still an Alliance warship. There has to be an Alliance officer on board, if only to keep an eye on you."

"I don't need a babysitter," he protested.

"Ha. I'll try not to be too much of a hassle, then."

Shepard turned around, surprised to hear his sister's voice. Cassidy approached the three men with a smug smirk prominent on her face, the uniform she was wearing now a proper military attire, not unlike Anderson's.

She saluted.

"Commander Cassidy Shepard, reporting for duty, sir!"

"Commander, huh?" David sounded almost disappointed. "I would have thought there was a promotion in this for you."

"For what? Failing to secure the beacon, getting shot in the line of duty, and letting Saren get away?" She leveled a glare at him. "Captaining a ship like the Normandy is an amazing opportunity for my career. I intend to make the most of it."

She sent a longing look to Anderson, almost apologetic. She knew his demotion wasn't her fault, but it was difficult not to feel guilty, taking over his job like that.

"So the crew is under your command."

"Technically, yes. I'm going to reserve a spot for your hand-picked squad, but _you_ can't complain about _my_ choices, either."

David winced. He could see where this was going.

"Oh my God, you're taking the turian."

 _"And_ the krogan. Yes. I'm aware we have no reason to trust them, but allies are a rare commodity these days, so you're going to suck it up and learn to tolerate them." She glanced at Captain Anderson. "...With all due respect."

David sent his sister a look that sent a clear message: _We'll talk about this later._ Aloud, he only asked one thing.

"When do we leave?"

* * *

Nihlus traced his talons along the edge of the now-closed hatch in the side of the Mantis, looking for any imperfections that might be dangerous in outer space. To his satisfaction, he found none. He had had the small drive core of the fighter adjusted and he hadn't yet had any occasion to try flying it since then, so he had to be careful when preparing for long-distance travel.

So far it looked like all was well with the ship. Shepard had probably already taken off, Nihlus thought and he didn't really want to get behind. The time to leave was now. Not a moment later.

Maybe he could learn what the hell had happened to Saren that made him turn. And if not, then, well... His hand rested on the handle of his assault rifle. Getting revenge on the person who had betrayed him in such a repulsive way was also a comforting idea.

"Nihlus?"

The voice was undoubtedly male and undoubtedly human—the lack of secondary vocal cords was still unsettling, even if the translator made the words understandable.

"Captain Anderson." Nihlus wiped the grease off of his crest, turning away from the ship. "Perfect timing. I was just about to leave." He cracked his knuckles, feeling restless. "What can I do for you?"

Anderson looked aside, as if suddenly embarrassed. Nihlus almost smiled—human facial features betrayed their emotions so easily.

"Look out for Shepard for me, will you? He's lived in his sister's shadow for a long time... I'm afraid he might get careless trying to prove his worth."

"I'll see to it that doesn't happen."

"Thank you. David is a good soldier. And a good person—a damn hero in my book. Keep him safe."

Nihlus crossed his arms. "That doesn't sound like an official inquiry."

"It's a... personal request." Anderson smiled weakly. "I care about those two. They're like family."

The turian tilted his head. "How so?"

"I was close with their father. Served in the same unit during the First Contact War, actually. I was by his side when he died. The twins were three or four then... In a way, I've been more of a father to them than James was. Practically raised Cassidy."

Nihlus looked away at the mention of the First Contact War.

"I'm sorry for your loss," he said quietly. "...I was at Shanxi too."

"It was nightmare stuff. I'm glad we got to meet in more peaceful conditions."

"So am I." Nihlus extended a hand, keeping in mind it was the human custom. "I'll do what I can to keep the Shepards safe."

"Thank you."

They shook hands.

* * *

"Shepard!" Wrex smiled widely as soon as he noticed David walking down the Normandy's CIC. "Thanks for having me! You won't regret it!" He patted the shocked Spectre on the back, almost knocking the air out of him.

"Sure," Shepard managed to cough out. So _this_ would be his crew from now on? Great.

He noticed Cassidy across the room, heading to Captain Anderson's cabin—well, he supposed it was _her_ cabin now. He caught up with her in a few quick steps before almost pushing her inside.

David shut the door angrily.

"Okay, now's the time we talk about the aliens," he said.

She turned back, irritated. "You told me to get help and I did."

"What the hell were you thinking?!" he hissed. "I said get _help_. You got a _suicide squad!"_

"They're not so bad," Cassidy crossed her arms. "You only brought one girl, and she's just a teenager."

"She's nineteen."

"That's the _definition!"_ She rolled her eyes. "What's so wrong about the people _I've_ brought?"

"How about Urdnot Wrex, the krogan mercenary? I know he told you he's on our side, but honestly, I don't feel so safe with a krogan on board the Normandy. _Especially_ a trained killer."

"You're spending too much time with Williams," Cassidy growled. "I trust Wrex."

"Whom you literally met yesterday."

"He saved my life."

"Cassidy, this is the most advanced ship in the Alliance Navy. Most of the Normandy's internal plumbing is military-grade secret. Do you really think it's a good idea to issue so much trust to a gun for hire you just randomly picked up off the streets of the Citadel?"

She hated how he just made excellent points like that. "Let's keep it at this: complaint's been filed. I'll think about that. Or do you have more issues?"

"Okay, the turian."

Cassidy rolled her eyes, exasperated. "Oh God, what's wrong with the _turian?!_ He's not a merc, he's not involved with any anti-human movements—and I'm pretty sure he actually _begged_ to help us! Besides, he's C-Sec. That's kind of close to home."

"He's _ex_ -C-Sec." David crossed his arms. "Do you remember? He just got fired."

"Uh... yeah? For looking into Saren?"

"For not following regulations. And rules. _And_ orders."

"He'll fall in line," Cassidy said firmly, even though she really couldn't speak for those people she'd just met. David was right—to some extent. Still... "He wants to bring Saren down about as much as any human."

David opened his mouth, staring at her with some disbelief as he finally caught on to what she was insinuating.

 _"...Racism?_ Is _that_ what you think this is?!"

"Well, kind of, yeah. I don't see you treating Williams with all that distrust. We've known her not much longer than the other guys."

"Christ, Cassidy, that's not the point! It's not about a krogan and a turian—it's _this_ krogan and _this_ turian I don't trust! Wrex could kill everyone on this ship without breaking a sweat and Vakarian is practically the _definition_ of the term loose cannon!" David put a hand to his forehead. "Ashley Williams is an Alliance soldier. You've brought two complete _question marks_ on board and given them complete access to the most advanced warship in human forces."

"Okay, fine then. Why do you expect Tali'Zorah, a quarian, to be any different?! And, by the way, I've already seen her examining the drive core!"

At that moment the tension had already reached its highest peak, both of them glaring angrily at the other.

It dawned on them at the same moment that they'd probably gone too far. Cassidy crossed her arms, embarrassed, looking away.

There was a long silence.

David sighed.

"Jesus... What happened to us, Cassidy?" He didn't want to look her in the eyes. "This isn't right."

"No. No, it's not. We shouldn't be fighting." She paused. "Look, I'll... I'll keep an eye on Wrex and Vakarian, okay? If they act suspicious, we'll figure something out."

"Better have that something be good," David smirked. "I can take on a turian for you, little sister, but I'm not so sure about a krogan warlord."

She laughed. "Ha. Let's just hope you won't have to. Hey..." She looked down at the floor. "You ever think if they think the same of _us_? I mean, humans. Honestly? I almost naturally distrust most turians before I even get to know them. And I know it's involuntary, and there are stereotypes... But we've gotta ignore those. That's what makes us the good guys, you know."

"I know," David sighed. "...I don't really like turians."

"Me neither," Cassidy admitted hesitantly. _"Even_ if Nihlus is alright. Still, there's a lot of bad blood - I understand why you don't trust Vakarian. _Or_ Wrex."

"Thanks. For understanding. And calling me out on all the prejudice." He nudged her foot with his own.

Cassidy smiled. "Anyday. And thanks for warning me. I still choose to give them the benefit of the doubt, but I'll keep my hand on the pulse... And a gun by my bed."

David smiled back. "That's all I ask." He nodded his head. "Glad we could sort that out. Now, Captain—"

Cassidy winced. There was no sarcasm in his voice, this title was genuine.

"—you might want to get to your duties. We're setting course for Noveria, in the Pax System."

"The salarian homeworld?" She narrowed her brows. "Why?"

"Geth sightings."

"Ah."

Cassidy's omnitool pinged with a message. She glanced at it and rolled her eyes.

"What is it?" David raised an eyebrow.

"Joker's being a pain in the ass already." She sighed. "I'm starting to see why Captain Anderson was always so irritated around him." She saw that David was about to leave and put a hand on his shoulder. "Oh, and do me a favor? If you see Wrex or Garrus—"

"Garrus?"

"The turian. If you see them, just... don't go all Shepard on them, could you? It's hard to find allies like them who don't demand payment. Might be hard to replace."

"We'll talk about that after Wrex hands you a bill," David said. Under his breath, he solemnly added "I really don't think it's gonna be cheap."

Cassidy smiled bitterly, waiting for her brother to leave the room. Once he did, she inhaled deeply.

As she let out her breath, she leaned on the wall. So far she had yet to evaluate this new situation, but a lot had changed in just a few days. David, a Spectre. Herself finally getting a command... And to top it all off, the geth! And Saren... She gritted her teeth just thinking about the turian who'd nearly murdered her just three days earlier. Honestly, if Nihlus hadn't been there... Or if _she_ hadn't, for that matter.

Her omnitool pinged again.

"Oh, come on!" she complained.

She scanned the millions of messages she'd received in just the last minute. Most of them equaled more or less to "Captain requested on the bridge".

She made her way to the pilot's cabin faster than she would had she not been so irritated already.

"What do you want?" she growled.

Joker turned his chair back. "Oh. Commander. I'm sorry, I didn't hear you sneak up on me."

"What is it?" she repeated.

"I'm getting a lot of pressure from the Citadel Flight Control," he said absently. "They don't want us overstaying our welcome. We should probably free up this docking space."

Shepard blinked, staring at him with a strange mixture of annoyment and relief.

"Is _that_ all you wanted from me?" She put a hand to her face. "Why don't you just take off if we're in the way?"

"Well, I can't without captain's direct orders."

Shepard breathed out slowly. "That's... _considerate."_ She had many other words in mind, and only half of them were decent. "But my first order as your captain is not to bother me with insignificant things like that. These are decisions you can make yourself." She didn't like how harshly that had sounded. "I'm going to trust you to keep this ship in one piece. Is that alright?"

"Yes, ma'am." He smirked. "Damn, I already like the new captain," he muttered to himself. "Fine then. Then we're taking off. Shall I put the ship on drift mode?"

"No, let's not..." She sat down in the co-pilot's seat. "But remember that for the future, that sounds like a good idea. No, for now, you can hit the relay while you're at it. We need to get to the Pax system in the Horse Head Nebula cluster."

"Roger that." Joker nodded, already entering the coordinates into the Normandy's navigation systems. "Oh, and by the way, if you want to make an address to the crew, here's the 'com."

"Address? Why?"

Joker shrugged. "It's always a good idea to let people know what's what. We're apparently catering to a human Spectre, Captain Anderson got fired all of a sudden, and now there's aliens on board... Those people back there don't know what's going on or why. And you're not just our CO, you're also... you know. Just a few words from you should be enough."

"Huh." Shepard leaned back in the chair. "...You might actually have a point."

She stood up, not so sure of what she was going to say. _Introduce myself, mention the non-humans on board... Wait, do I need to introduce myself? I think they know me. But if I don't, will it be seen as rude that I assumed they know me? Maybe David should be the one to do this. I don't think—_

"You're on, Commander."

"Oh." _Too late for thinking now._ "Um. Hello. This is your captain speaking. I..." Shepard wanted to facepalm. This wasn't going too well so far. She sent Joker a panicked look, but he pretended he didn't see it. She couldn't help but notice how much he was enjoying her 'speech'. She cleared her throat. "I'm Commander Shepard. Some of you may know me already, but I will be your new commanding officer from now on." Good. So far so good. "We have been chosen for a very important mission of—of galactic importance. I'm counting on each and every one of you to represent the best humanity has to offer." She let herself smile. Now that she was on a roll, words were coming to her easily. "You may have noticed the non-Alliance personnel on board, too. I trust you'll be kind and accommodating to our non-human colleagues—and remember that we're all on the same side. The threat the geth pose goes beyond humanity's interests... But if we stand united, we'll stand strong. So... Let's give them hell."

She turned off the intercom, feeling weak and out of breath.

"That was terrible," she breathed out.

"Hey, it was a good speech. Ended on a strong line, showed clear motives." Joker smiled reassuringly. "The beginning was a bit rocky, though. I'll give it a six out of ten."

Shepard laughed nervously. "I'll take it," she said. She decided that she was _not_ well-suited to leadership roles.

She mumbled a goodbye to the pilot and almost walked into the officer waiting for her just outside.

"Commander Shepard, ma'am!" He saluted.

"Oh. Um..." She quickly assessed the markings on his uniform. "At ease, Lieutenant." She put on a friendly smile. "It's... Alenko, right?"

"Yes, ma'am." He smiled shyly and Cassidy decided that he wasn't so much awkward as intimidated. She tended to have that effect on soldiers... Not that she enjoyed it. It was just kind of difficult not to be recognized with her track record. "I heard your speech and assumed this is where you'd be. I just... wanted to say how much of an honor it is to have you here." He sheepishly looked aside. "I've never met anyone who was awarded the Star of Terra before."

Shepard smiled politely. Not that she didn't like the attention—she did. It just seemed like sometimes her reputation was getting out of control.

"Just treat me like any other CO you've had before and we'll be just fine," she said. "Actually..." She could use someone to watch her back. Mindful of what David had said, she would prefer it to be a human—an Alliance soldier. And a skilled biotic like Alenko could turn out to be invaluable as a bodyguard.

 _Bodyguard?_ She narrowed her brows. _Since when do I think of things like that?_ She was _Cassidy Shepard_ , for crying out loud! The youngest woman in history to get N7 designation. She had singlehandedly held off batarian forces during the Skyllian Blitz. She didn't need _anyone_ to save her... Much less anyone for her to depend on.

She had always worked alone and that was the way she would prefer for it to stay.

She knew she could count on herself, at least. The problem with other people was that they screwed stuff up. As long as she handled things on her own, she knew for certain they would get taken care of.

"Ma'am?"

Shepard blinked. She had been considering asking him to tag along just now. Had she forgotten everything she'd learned? Build trust first. Don't let anyone close enough to stab you in the back. And who was Lieutenant Alenko to her, really? Right now, just another subordinate.

"Oh? It's nothing," she said. "I just got ahead of myself." Wasn't that the truth. "Carry on, Lieutenant."

He saluted again. "Commander."

She let him walk away, she herself taking a moment to look around the CIC. She suspected she'd be spending a lot of time there in the future.

She noticed David examining the galaxy map and joined him on the bridge.

"I heard your speech," he said casually.

"Joker put me up to it," she explained. "I'm not here to upstage you. I'm just trying to get a sense of where the crew's at and how I can help with morale."

"No, I understand." He rubbed his chin, more focused on the map than the conversation. "It wasn't that bad."

She put her hands on her hips. "So what's this, then?"

He sighed as he leaned forward on the guardrail over the hologram. "I've been trying to get a sense of what Saren is searching for... The Conduit. I've marked all the places with reports of geth being sighted in the last few weeks and tried to cross-reference it with sites of known Prothean ruins."

Cassidy tilted her head, looking at the messy net of lights in front of them.

"It's... a bit much," she said hesitantly.

"I know." He sighed. "But I'll figure it out. And if it comes down to it, we'll check out every single one of these locations if we have to."

"Can I help somehow?"

"You could start by telling your krogan friend to stop patting me on the back. It hurts."

Cassidy smiled. It had been a while since she'd last heard him joke.

"I'll see what I can do," she promised.

She had to take the elevator down to the engineering deck where she'd heard Wrex, Tali _and_ Vakarian had set up. She didn't like that—she was just hoping it wasn't because the Alliance crew had bullied them out of the crew deck. She could understand why the krogan wanted to be alone, but the turian and quarian's decision worried her. Especially the quarian. There was something about her...

"Ah, Commander Shepard?"

Cassidy looked up at the sound of her name. "What is it, Vakarian?"

The turian seemed a bit uneasy as he approached her, nervously skipping a bit.

"I just wanted to thank you for letting me tag along. I know it can't have been easy for an Alliance warship to accommodate for dextros."

"Actually, the Normandy is of human-turian design. You shouldn't feel so out of place here." On principle, Cassidy Shepard made a point of being accommodating and friendly, even against her own prejudices. That was—as she'd always thought—the right thing to do. But even she had to admit that Vakarian was kind of getting on her nerves. "And you'll get used to working with a human crew."

"It's not that different from C-Sec," he agreed. "The main difference is, of course, the leadership of a Spectre." His face plates moved a bit. "I don't understand why it isn't you. Or both of you at least."

She waved her hand. "It's politics. I don't care for it, as long as we get the job done."

"In that case, sounds like there's something you and I have in common. I..." He hesitated. "I'm going to get back to my duties now."

Cassidy crossed her arms. "Is there something you want to talk about?"

"I... yes." Garrus looked away. "It's probably stupid, but... I get the feeling your brother doesn't like me."

She sighed. Oh, it was about _that_.

"I wish I could tell you it's personal, to be honest. It's... probably not. Most of the officers aren't too happy with non-humans on board, but... There may be more to it in your case." She winced unwittingly. "You have to understand, our father died in the First Contact War. We were just little kids at the time, I don't even remember him. But David has been... Well. Humans and turians don't get along too well, either way, you know."

"Maybe it's about time someone showed the world that we _can."_

"It's _not_ that easy." She looked at him. _How naïve._ It was almost admirable.

"I was born after the Inci—I mean, the First Contact War, so maybe I don't understand. But I've met many humans in my life and so far none of them have killed me."

 _So far._ She almost smiled.

"Do you want me to be straight with you?" Shepard put a hand on her hip. "I trust you. You, Garrus Vakarian. But I don't trust you, a turian. So forgive me, but I'll keep my guard up with you for now."

"Not comforting, but understandable." He nodded curtly. "Thank you for taking the time to talk with me."

"Of course."

 _What a peculiar person._ The way she saw it, Garrus Vakarian was either going to make some real good changes in the galaxy or—the more probable possibility—was going to be chewed up and spit out in an attempt to do the "right thing". He was just a bit too idealistic for his own good.

Well. She was giving him a few years, at best. He would _have_ to grow up eventually—Hell, maybe this mission was the opportunity for that to happen.

God knows _she_ had once been like that too.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lol no I did NOT have fun writing this chapter and tbh chances are you're not gonna have much fun reading it either, but I've decided not to give a shit ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

Nihlus jumped out of his ship and landed on the ground with a soft thud.

He looked around.

_Damn_. He adjusted his helmet nervously. _This is hot._

Even using the mass relays to jump around, it had taken him almost two days to finally arrive at target destination. It wasn't the longest journey he'd ever made, not by a long shot, but two days was far too long to be shut inside a small cabin for his liking. His muscles and joints were aching and he was painfully aware that if any danger were to appear, he wouldn't be in fighting condition.

According to the intel he had managed to salvage, this was the last known location of Dr T'Soni. Though why anyone would willingly decide to come to someplace as absurdly hot and barren as this was only his guess. Prothean ruins, probably. According to his omnitool, he wasn't that far from the place pinpointed as the archeological team's dig site.

For now all Nihlus had seen was rocks and melted rocks. Lava on the planet's surface in semi-liquid form... Damn, this place was hot. And he was a turian—he didn't really want to know how bad it was for an asari.

He shook those thoughts off. _There's no time to waste, anyway. At this rate, Shepard should be... Well,_ wherever _he is, I hope it's colder than this flaming hell._

* * *

Shepard stared at the blizzard outside with little enthusiasm.

He had kind of been hoping that after being damn near shot down by the defense turrets of this spaceport, maybe at least maybe the scenery would _maybe_ be inviting.

It was _not_.

"...That doesn't look fun," he murmured. He sighed. "Well, not like we signed up for beach vacation."

He looked at Cassidy.

"If they're hostile, turn tail and run," he advised. "I'm going to try and sort this whole thing out." He checked the magazine of his pistol.

She nodded quickly. "Of course. I wouldn't dare stay in the place that got the better of _you_."

He holstered his pistol, adjusted his armor so the N7 on his chest was more clearly visible, and stepped into the airlock. _Now we'll see just how much this Spectre status_ is _worth_.

With a quiet hiss, the outer doors of the Normandy slid open.

_Cold!_ Shepard unwittingly shut his eyes, even though he knew his helmet would protect them from the weather. It was unbearably cold—and he was practically inside the spaceport.

Oh, he was not liking it.

He glanced back. Cassidy gave him a thumbs-up, to which he responded with flipping his middle finger at her. She smiled, and unceremonially closed the door behind him.

"I _hate_ you," he muttered under his breath. With a sigh, he set off for the spaceport.

* * *

Geth.

Why did it have to be _geth?_ They didn't breathe, they didn't make a sound... Nihlus had walked straight into an ambush almost right away.

Maybe he hadn't been in perfect fighting condition after that flight, but his mindset had certainly changed since then.

Why were there so many of them here?! (What _was_ Saren even planning? - a follow-up question came up in his head.) He was outnumbered by a very far cry.

Nihlus gritted his teeth as he pressed his back against the cold steel wall of the mining facility he'd gotten trapped in. Bullets flew in the air next to him, more than just one getting caught in his armor. He'd long since lost his shields. He growled a curse curse as he hesitantly tapped into his limited supply of medigel. The wound in his thigh would only slow him down, and that could cost him his life in the long run. It was better to waste some medigel on it now than to regret it later.

In all honesty, Nihlus was beginning to wonder if he hadn't bitten off more than he could chew. Working alone was kind of his MO by now, but even he wasn't as stubborn as not to realize when he needed help.

Right now he could _really_ use some.

* * *

"Thanks," David said coldly. "I appreciate your cooperation."

He really couldn't muster any more positive words after being held at gunpoint for what felt like the hundredth time in the last hour.

It was only his Spectre status that had saved him. Normal Council forces didn't have much authority this far out into the Traverse, so he had kind of lucked out with that. Still, he wasn't expecting the shady businesses on Noveria to that easily let him snoop around...

He wasn't liking this.

"Oh, and Commander?" One of the guards, a young woman with raven black hair and equally dark skin, a combination that made her look like a statue and unnerved him for some reason, called out after him. She stood out among the other guards. Most of them were human, some were turian. All were men.

"What?" He didn't even make the effort of hiding his irritation anymore.

"If you plan on leaving the spaceport in this weather, please do be careful. A blizzard like that can be very dangerous."

Shepard blinked, surprised. "Thank you. That's very..."

"If a Spectre died on Noveria in mysterious circumstances, we'd be facing an official investigation, and we can't have that here." The woman crossed her arms. "So please don't die."

David wrinkled his forehead. "Right then. That's how it is."

He had been a Spectre for little more than three days and already it was becoming his defining trait for people. He had a life outside that job. He had had a career before. And still...

"And, um, if it's not insensitive, do you happen to be related to Commander Shepard?" She quickly precised, "I mean... _The_ Commander Shepard. Is she... Are you... related? To her?"

Fantastic. _Thanks for stealing the definitive article, Cassidy_. Shepard drooped his shoulders.

"My _sister_ is here with me," he said lowly. "Right now, on this planet. In this spaceport." Why did every woman he met idolize his sister so much?

"Two celebrities... That's not a good thing, of course." The guard cleared her throat. "Maybe you should just leave."

"Listen. I'm not here for your little corporate secrets." Shepard barely stopped himself from rolling his eyes. "I don't give a damn about that. I'm just here about the geth. So as long as none of you people get in my way, I won't get into theirs." Now Cassidy on the other hand... Her stupid moral compass could prove problematic here on Noveria.

He would have to have someone keep an eye on her, make sure she doesn't meddle. Someone like Williams or Vakarian... Ideally, Wrex. It was hard to argue with a krogan.

He opened up a comm link with the Normandy.

_"Good to hear from you, Commander."_ Joker picked up immediately. _"Some of us were getting worried. We were just about to turn tail and run like you'd told us to."_

David honestly couldn't tell if that was a joke or not.

"Thanks for... _not_ doing that," he said. "Listen, I'm not planning to stay here for long. We'll probably stock up on supplies while we're here, but we're leaving tomorrow."

_"Good idea, sir—and I agree—but I can't take that order from you. You're not my boss, so..."_ David could imagine Joker shrugging at that moment. _"You know."_

"...I forget." I forget that the stupid Alliance doesn't trust me enough to captain this ship. "For now, just tell Alenko and Williams to suit up. I'm on my way back."

He disconnected the line without waiting for a reply.

* * *

Nihlus blinked time and time again, almost convinced that his eyes were playing tricks on him.

There was an asari suspended in a force field behind a shimmering biotic barrier.

They looked at each other, both seemingly equally surprised to see the other. They regarded one another in silence, unsure of how to proceed.

"...A turian," the asari said eventually. "A lone turian in a Prothean ruin." She raised her brows. "The word unusual is an understatement here."

"I'm a Spectre..."

She laughed mirthlessly.

"Right. I see now. A _Spectre_." She said it like it was supposed to explain everything. "A figure of authority. Protective. Safety. Security. Wouldn't I want that."

"I don't have time for this." Nihlus looked around. She was alone. "Are you Liara T'Soni?"

"And now the projection of my subconscious asks me who I am. How absurd." The asari laughed again and Nihlus decided that she was delusional. "Fine, I'll play along... I'm Dr T'Soni, yes."

"You're insane." It wasn't much more than a simple statement of a fact.

"Ha. I suppose I _am_ talking to myself... Fair enough, Spectre."

"How long have you been..." Nihlus motioned at the force field that bound her. "...here?"

"Weeks, probably. I lost track of days after the first ten or so. I tried to keep myself in a self-induced semi-comatose state to hold out for longer..."

"You went that long without food?" Nihlus crossed his arms. "You asari always have just another _trick_ up your sleeve, don't you?"

"My subconscious is rude," Liara T'Soni noticed. "Not to mention my subconscious projects itself as a turian... This is actually fascinating. In a different situation, I would have noted this for future research."

"Whatever," Nihlus growled. He had long since lost patience for this absurdity. "I'm real. And I'm here to apprehend you."

"Looks like the Protheans already did that job for you," she noticed. Snarky? Nihlus never would have guessed.

"Take down the barrier," he ordered. "Let's get this over with. Liara T'Soni, you are under arrest for aiding a fugitive. You reserve the right to remain silent, of course, not that you seem like it'd make a difference..." He sighed. "Just... stop this crazy train, take down the barrier, and come with me."

She narrowed her brows. "You're real, aren't you?" She shook her head. "No... This is exactly what I'm supposed to avoid: false hope. It's..." She cleared her throat and addressed the Spectre again. "On the off chance you're not just a hallucination, I _will_ go with you. But you need to disable this force field first."

Nihlus narrowed his eyes, looking at her with a mixture of tiredness, annoyance, and anger.

"You're a chore," he muttered.

* * *

By the time Shepard had returned to the Normandy, Ashley was already prepared to leave. Kaidan was not.

Shepard was surprised to learn that his sister had given the crew a few hours off to relax. While he understood the importance of morale as much as the other man, he wasn't so sure this was a good idea. If those people were supposed to go against Saren, they had to be ready for action at any given moment.

Sitting by the common table, Garrus and Joker were playing chess. Or rather, the latter was trying very hard to explain the rules. David looked away. He didn't care for that game. It didn't reflect real life military strategy well and he always ended up losing.

"I'm sorry." Kaidan nodded his head apologetically. "I'm sorry. I'm here now. I'm sorry."

"...Let's just get going," Shepard said, tired of the whole thing.

"That's a really diverse group you've got there," Garrus threw in a tone that was way too snarky for Shepard's liking.

"Do _you_ want to come?" he asked, very irritated at this point. He was actually hoping he would say yes. He really wouldn't mind a chance to beat some sense into that hotheaded kid.

The turian made a strange gurgling sound that Shepard belatedly recognized as some form of laughter. "No, not if I can help it."

"Scared, Vakarian?"

"Not at all." Garrus was unbelievably amused at the whole thing. "But you're homeothermic, so I can't expect you to understand. Me? I'd much rather stay here and, you know, alive."

"I don't think the cold can _kill_ you."

"No, but _bullets_ sure can, and I'd rather be able to dodge them. Have you ever seen a turian or salarian running around in the cold?"

Shepard assumed the question was rhetorical, and quite honestly he had no idea how to answer it. Up until a few weeks earlier, he had barely seen aliens _at all_. That was Cassidy's area of expertise. She had spent her entire adult life dealing with aliens while he hadn't seen much beyond standard Alliance ships.

"Don't kill each other," Cassidy reminded them as she passed by—much to David's surprise, wearing a set of light N7 armor.

"What are you doing...?" he asked. His second day as a Spectre and everything was already getting out of hand.

"No, sorry. I don't mean to step on your toes. I wanted to take a look around the port. Maybe restock on supplies. We're short on dextro food since, you know... We usually don't need any."

"See, _now_ you're looking at me like I'm a problem," Garrus noticed.

She ignored that comment.

"Either way, I'll stay out of your way. I know you're on official Council business here." She looked aside. "I'm fine with that. I'm not going to interfere."

"You can't go out there without a team to back you up."

"I work alone," she said through gritted teeth, enunciating every word. "And you're not my boss. You may be a Spectre, but that doesn't give you authority over me."

"Will you please at least let _one person_ come with you?"

It was all she could do not to roll her eyes. "...Fine." She knit her brows. "One person."

"Good." David put a hand on her shoulder, smiling widely. "Take the krogan."


End file.
